Israeli police chief under fire after saying ‘Arabs kill each other, it’s in their nature’

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The Israeli police chief has come under fire for his leaked racist comments in which he said killing was in the nature of Arab communities in the occupied territories.

Kobi Shabtai reportedly made the comments during a private meeting with far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir last week.

A transcript of the meeting leaked by Israeli media shows Shabtai saying murder is the mentality of Arabs.

These remarks were made in response to Ben Gvir saying that Israel needs a so-called national guard to combat record crime rates in Arab communities living in the occupied territories. The chief of police replied, Mr. Minister, there is nothing to be done. They kill each other. It is their nature. This is the mentality of the Arabs.

Representatives of Arab parties in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) were outraged by the police commissioners’ remarks, calling for Shabtai’s dismissal for the remarks.

Ayman Odeh, chairman of the Joint List party, called on the police chief to resign over the comments. The number of Palestinians killed in [criminal incidents in] Israel is seven times higher than the number of Palestinians killed [in criminal incidents] in the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan.

It’s not the nature of the Palestinians, it’s the nature of the racist establishment, he said, adding that a racist commissioner like Shabtai should be fired.

Mansour Abbas, deputy speaker of the Knesset and chairman of the Joint (Arab) List, said the commissioner should apologize and withdraw his lewd comments about Arab society.

I expect the Commissioner of Police to withdraw his lewd comments about Arab society and either apologize to the Arab public or resign from his post.

The police chief’s office expressed shock that the conversation was leaked. However, the statement stopped short of apologizing for the comment, instead saying the remarks were taken out of context from a private conversation.

There was a growing dispute between Shabtai and Ben Gvir after the regime gave its approval to a plan to train the National Guard which would operate under Ben Gvir’s ministry. Opponents, including the police chief and opposition party leaders, have warned against this, saying it will operate as a private Ben Gvir militia.

Israel’s current far-right cabinet has been described as the most right-wing of all time.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich caused similar controversy in February by calling for the destruction of the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank after two Israelis were shot dead there by a Palestinian.

In his racist statements, the Israeli minister said that there is no Palestinian people, history or culture.

There are Arabs who don’t like it, so what do they do? They invent a fictitious people and claim fictitious rights to the land of Israel, only to fight the Zionist movement.

Over the past few days, Israeli forces have intensified their attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including against worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque.

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