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Netanyahu Says Nationality Law is Israel’s Response to ‘Nakba’
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Cherie Cullen / WikiCommons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said his response to those who mourn the creation of Israel is his newly proposed nationality law that seeks to enshrine Israel’s status as a Jewish state in the country’s Basic Laws.
His remarks were made as he toured a sports complex being built in Jerusalem as thousands of Palestinian Arabs held “Nakba” (“Catastrophe”) events throughout the West Bank and Gaza, to protest Israel’s founding in 1948.
“Today, not far from here, in the Palestinian Authority, they are marking what they call Nakba Day. They stand silent in order to commemorate the disaster of the establishment of Israel, the state of the Jewish People. They educate their children, with endless propaganda, that the State of Israel needs to disappear,” Netanyahu said. “We have many responses to this.”
“The first response is that we are continuing to build up our state and our united capital, Jerusalem. We will also give another response to the Nakba: We will pass the nationality law that makes it clear to the entire world that Israel is the state of the Jewish People,” he said.
A number of “Nakba” events were held on Thursday throughout the West Bank. The occasion is marked annually by Palestinian Arabs on May 15, the day after the Gregorian calendar date of Israel’s Independence Day.
Two Palestinian Arabs were allegedly killed during a riot near Ofer Prison, close to Ramallah. In clashes elsewhere in the greater Jerusalem area and around the Old City, five Israeli policemen were wounded by Arab stone throwers.
