Arab leaders call for boycott of 'deceitful' meeting with Netanyahu

• Published date: 17 January 2021
• Author: EVE YOUNG

Leaders are calling for the boycott on social media, saying that the meeting is exploiting violence in the Arab sector for political purposes and demanding the meeting be cancelled, N12 reported.

"For 13 years Bibi has done nothing, this meeting is part of his election campaign and I won't take part in that," said Shfaram Mayor Orsan Yasen at the meeting, Walla reported.

"Bibi is taking advantage of the crisis of violence, and like in 1997, trying to scrape votes from Arab towns," said head of the civil rights organization Mossawa Center, Jafar Farah, according to Walla.

In a detailed Facebook post, head of the Kafr Kanna Local Council Dr. Yousef Awawdeh explained why he will not be attending Sunday's meeting with Netanyahu, blaming Netanyahu and his government for failing to tackle and even to address the alarming crime rates in the Arab sector, while "successfully carrying out this responsibility in the Jewish community several years ago," Dr. Awawdeh wrote. "If the goal is electoral propaganda, I don't accept being a partner in exploiting the blood of our youth," he added.

لن أشارك... تلقيت دعوة رسمية كرئيس مجلس كفركنا المحلي للمشاركة يوم الأحد بجلسة ستجمع رئيس الحكومة "نتنياهو" برؤساء...

Posted by د. يوسف عواودة Dr. Yousef Awawdi on Friday, 15 January 2021

Mohammad Darawshe, leader of the newly formed Arab-Israeli party called Ma'an, that is currently attempting to partner with centrist Jewish parties, also called on Arab leaders and heads of local councils to boycott the meeting, warning them that Netanyahu cannot be trusted.

"Maybe the local council heads have forgotten but during Netanyahu's watch the racist Nation Law was passed, as well as the Kaminitz Law that is used to destroy houses in the Arab community; He made statements that were meant to de-legitimize the Arab voters. He has no intention of keeping the promises that he spreads around and they are only meant to collect more votes that will assure him his next cadention as prime minister," Darawshe wrote.

Balad, one of the four parties comprising the Joint List, which is expected to lose four to five seats in the upcoming elections, launched a campaign against Netanyahu on Saturday that included billboards in Hebrew and in Arabic with the slogan: "We can't be bought" alongside an image of someone holding a cigar.

"You can't, under any circumstances, tie between citizens' rights and their political positions. The promise 'vote for me and get budgets' is an unacceptable form of bribery, and...