Feiglin: MK Tibi, You will not Remain in this Country

Moshe Feiglin tells Arab MK he represents murderers, Tibi denies Arabs torch Jewish synagogues.

By Gil Ronen

(from Israel National News)

Moshe Feiglin, who heads Likud's internal Jewish Leadership faction, faced off with MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am Ta'al) last week in an joint interview on Channel 2.

Presenter Oded Ben Ami asked Feigin -- whom he referred to only by his last name -- who he thinks is responsible for the recent wave of violence. A transcription of most of the ensuing conversation follows beneath embedded video (which is in Hebrew, without captions).

Ben-Ami: Feiglin, can you explain why this is happening and why it is happening now?

Feiglin: I just want to remind you that with the last mosque that was set on fire, it turned out that it was the Arabs from the village itself, at Tuba Zangariya [who set it on fire], so we must not jump to conclusions hurriedly.

Ben Ami: Where was this revealed?

Feiglin: Ask the head of the Appointed Council of Tuba Zangariya who estimated with a high degree of certainty that that was the story there.

Ben-Ami: I know that the police investigation in this case has not yet ended.

Feiglin: And it will not end, because this is precisely the conclusion. But with your permission, I would like to ask Ahmed Tibi, who is seated in front of you, and who represents a population from whose midst came most of the most murderous terror attacks in Israel, what he says about this. How can it be that Ahmed Tibi is present here as the man who has been attacked, and not as the man who supports terror.

Ben-Ami: MK Tibi, I am rolling the ball over to you because Moshe Feiglin wants to ask you why you are here as the person who was attacked? Do you feel that you were attacked?

Tibi: If the intent is that I am a son of the Palestinian people, the Palestinians are victims of the occupation…

Feiglin: And this justifies murder, Mr. Ahmed? Does it justify murder?

Ben Ami: Let me just remind you that his name is MK Ahmed Tibi.

Feiglin: Yes, I forgot for a moment.

Tibi: Try not to make wisecracks and let me continue. The attempts to deflect attention, in this debate, too, from the burning of mosques and the actual occupation, one of whose tools is the settlers – I refuse to accept the attempt by the state or the media or these settlers [to say that] there are good settlers and bad settlers. There is a good army and settlers who oppose it. There is a system of occupation that is the hothouse for these settlers who have burned 9 mosques since the beginning of the year.

(…)

This is Jewish anti-Semitism and this man who is seated here is a symbol of the Jewish anti-Semitism.

Feiglin: Maybe I can inform MK Tibi that almost every week, a synagogue is set on fireby Israeli Arabs and nobody cares.

MK Tibi: Where did this happen?

Feiglin: Where did it happen? It happened in Yafo, in Akko, it is happening in Nazareth.

Tibi: These are just defamations and lies… don't lie… at this point you are on the side of the anti-Semites.

Ben-Ami: MK Tibi, at this point I insist that Mr. Feiglin will talk and that we listen to him. Go ahead.

Feiglin: Every week, synagogues are set on fire and Jewish cemeteries are defiled by Arabs – by the populace that Ahmed Tibi represents, and nobody cares. And Ahmed Tibi represents a populace from which spring most of the murderers in the worst terror attacks that occurred inside Israel. How is it that you are not ashamed to bring a person like this in the role of the wounded party?

Ben Ami: Just like we are not ashamed to bring you.

Tibi: I reject the comparison vehemently! This is a Jewish anti-Semite! I am a humanistic man.

Feiglin: Of course you are humanistic! You defend the murder of Jews…

Tibi: Comparing Ahmed Tibi to the moral garbage called Feiglin, this is Apocalypse Now.

Feiglin: This is my country and you will not remain in it.

Tibi: You will not decide for Channel 2 whether or not to invite me. I am the homeowner here.