Joint Arab List MK: Netanyahu won’t get away with racism

Obama’s recent remarks ‘reflect the seriousness with which the world views Netanyahu’s racist policies,’ says MK Aida Touma-Suliman.

By Jack Khoury | Haaretz | May 22, 2015 |

U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent statement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anti-Arab remarks on election day last month would have “foreign-policy consequences,” was welcomed on Friday by Joint Arab List Knesset member Aida Touma-Suliman.

Obama made his comment earlier in the week in an interview with The Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg.

“We regard the president’s comment as a positive development, reflecting the seriousness with which the world views Netanyahu’s racist policies,” Touma said.

“In no developed country would the prime minister undermine the right of 20 percent of the population to vote,” she added. “The Americans know that very well from the dark periods of their history.”

Touma stated that Netanyahu and his government “need to understand that that their racist policies aimed at one-and-half million citizens cannot be passed over in silence.”

The Joint List MK expressed the hope that the president’s comments were not made only in the context of the disagreements between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over the Iranian nuclear agreement.

“The degree to which the president is serious will be tested by the steps he takes to prevent deterioration in the state’s attitude toward its Arab citizens — in an immediate solution to the problem of house demolitions, by preventing racist and anti-democratic legislation and by the implementation of programs to promote equality in all walks of life.”

The Joint List is considering a direct appeal to Obama and the U.S. government which will set out the issues of central concern to the Arab public.