Netanyahu: Israel Is The State Of ‘Jewish People Alone’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the border with Egypt at the southern village of Nitzana in the Negev desert on March 7, 2019, as he tours the area and the border fence. (Photo by JIM HOLLANDER / POO... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the border with Egypt at the southern village of Nitzana in the Negev desert on March 7, 2019, as he tours the area and the border fence. (Photo by JIM HOLLANDER / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read JIM HOLLANDER/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is the homeland “only of the Jewish people,” in a new jab at the country’s Arab minority ahead of April’s election.

Netanyahu on Sunday addressed “slightly confused people” after an Israeli celebrity defended the rights of Israel’s Arab population. Arabs comprise about 20 percent of Israel’s 9 million residents. They have full citizenship rights but have faced decades of discrimination.

On Saturday, actress Rotem Sela denounced Netanyahu’s frequent talking point that his political rival will form a government with Arab political parties.

“When the hell will someone in this government tell the public that Israel is a country of all its citizens,” Sela wrote on Instagram.

Netanyahu responded: Israel “is the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people.”

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