Arab-Israeli political leaders reject Netanyahu’s apology

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Arab political leaders in Israel on Tuesday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for comments he made in last week's national elections that offended members of the Arab community and said his words made him unsuitable to return for a third consecutive term on the job.

The spat has touched on longstanding claims of discrimination by Israel's Arab minority, which makes up 20 per cent of Israel, and signalled that the rift will not be healed anytime soon. 

In the heat of a close race last week, Netanyahu posted a video on his Facebook page where he implored his hardline supporters to head to the polls, saying that "left-wing organisations" were bussing Arabs to the polls "in droves”. The comments drew accusations of racism from Arab voters and a White House rebuke.

The footage of the apology, filmed by Likud, shows Netanyahu saying to a gathering of Arab officials on Monday: "I know that what I said a few days ago offended some of Israel's citizens, offended Israeli Arabs. I had no intention of doing so. I am sorry for this."

But Arab politicians from the Joint List — a new coalition of mostly Arab parties — said they were not invited to the gathering at the prime minister's residence.

"Why didn't he call us? Why didn't he invite us?" said Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List.

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Arab politicians said his election victory was illegitimate, claiming Netanyahu won the vote by pandering to anti-Arab fears.

"We call on Netanyahu to return the mandate he received on the basis of incitement and fearmongering," the Joint List said in a statement. Netanyahu has secured a majority of backers in the new parliament and is expected to be formally tapped on Wednesday to form the next government.

Opinion polls conducted on the eve of elections showed Netanyahu's conservative Likud Party trailing behind his main challenger, the centre-left Zionist Union. His sudden turnaround victory came as Netanyahu made his remark about Arab voters in the final hours of voting.

His comments on Arabs, along with a declaration that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch, have infuriated the White House. And his attempts to backtrack on both positions have been greeted with scepticism.

"We just don't know what to believe at this point," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday.

The controversy comes amid the backdrop of the Arab-Israeli community's newfound political might.

The Joint List made unprecedented gains in the March 17 election, earning enough votes to make it the third-largest party in Israel's 120-seat parliament. The Joint List said election results showed that more than 90 per cent of Arab-Israeli voters supported the coalition in the elections.