Gadi Eisenkot accuses Netanyahu's 'racist' campaign against Israeli arabs

Israeli prime ministerial hopeful Gadi Eisenkot accused caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other right-wing figures of fueling a racist and aggressive campaign to delegitimize the country's Arab minority. According to RTE News and Free Malaysia Today, the accusations follow attempts to link Arab community politicians to Hamas. Eisenkot stated on X that Arab citizens are an integral part of the Israeli story and described the collective vilification of the community as a violation of civic responsibility.

Haaretz reported that Eisenkot added he will not allow the defamation of an entire public, noting that the prime minister is the leader of all citizens, including those who did not vote for him. Free Malaysia Today noted that the criticism stems from Netanyahu and his allies targeting Arab party leaders for not describing Hamas as a terror group following the October 7, 2023, attack, despite all Arab party leaders condemning the attack.

The two Arab-majority parties, Raam and the Joint List, secured a combined 19 seats in last month's election. Le Monde English and Free Malaysia Today report that these parties won nearly a sixth of the 120-seat parliament and could potentially serve as kingmakers in Eisenkot's efforts to form a government.

Brief written by urgent.news from Le Monde English, RTE News, Free Malaysia Today, Haaretz, Hindustan Times - World News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.