Tel Aviv mayor on PM's response to shooting: 'His thesis has blown up in his face'
"I felt that he is a person who has no answers, and instead of addressing the nation and telling them that, he lashes out at a different population," says Huldai.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: JANUARY 3, 2016 11:38Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the site of the shooting on Dizengoff, January 2. 2016.(photo credit: HAIM ZACH/GPO)
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said in an interview with Army Radio on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to provide security for the citizens of Israel. "I felt as though the man who was standing in front of me was frustrated that his thesis has blown up in his face, and he has no idea how to solve security problems," said Huldai, referring to Netanyahu.Huldai's remarks came after Netanyahu's comment's on Saturday, which accused some Arab-Israelis as having dual loyalty to both the Israeli and the Palestinian cause."He is looking for others to blame in this situation," said the mayor. "I felt that he is a person who has no answers, and instead of addressing the nation and telling them that, he lashes out at a different population."On Saturday, the prime minister visited the site of Friday’s shooting on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street.“There are many among Muslim Israeli citizens who have come out against the violence and are crying out for full law enforcement in their towns. At the same time, we all know that there is wild incitement by radical Islam against the State of Israel in the Arab sector. Incitement in mosques, in the education system, on social media,” he said, vowing to continue efforts to stop the incitement.The prime minister said he is unwilling to have a state within a state in Israel, in which some citizens live in “enclaves with no law enforcement, with Islamist incitement and an abundance of illegal weapons that are often fired at happy events, weddings, and during endless criminal incidents.”“That time is over,” Netanyahu declared.Netanyahu said he, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Police Insp.-Gen. Roni Alsheich put together a plan to dramatically increase law enforcement services in Arab areas throughout the country, including building more police stations and recruiting more police officers.“We will demand loyalty to the laws of the state from everyone,” he stated. “One cannot say ‘I am Israeli in my rights and Palestinian in my responsibilities.’ Whoever wants to be Israeli, must be Israeli all the way, with rights and responsibilities, and the first and foremost responsibility is to follow the laws of the state.”The prime minister commended Israeli Arabs who enlist in the IDF or do national service.
“I call on all Israeli citizens, and especially Muslim Israeli citizens, to follow this path, a path of integration, coexistence and peace, and not a path of incitement, hatred and zealotry. We are all citizens of the State,” he said.