The Right has decided to respond to a controversial "Stop Settler Violence" conference that was attended by coalition members at the Knesset last week with a conference of its own.
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The "Emergency Conference on Violence, Incitement, and '[Gang] Protection' of Arabs Against Jews in the Negev, the Galilee, Jerusalem, and Mixed Cities, will be held in the Knesset next Wednesday at the initiative of Likud MK Shlomo Karhi and Religious Zionism Party head Bezalel Smotrich. The goal of the conference is to present real data on the extent of violence in the Arab sector, gang protection in southern cities, and the extent of Islamist elements' influence on antisemitic incitement in those areas, the lawmakers said.
Smotrich and Karhi lambasted the "Stop Settler Violence" conference as a fraudulent event aimed solely at distorting reality and diverting public discourse. By contrast, they said, next week's conference would include real data and the participation of professionals in the field. Residents and local authority representatives would also offer accounts of the phenomenon, they said.
"The truth is difficult and painful, but it must be said. Some Arab Israelis take advantage of the weakness and helplessness of the Muslim Brotherhood government and rain terror on Israel's Jewish residents," Karhi said ahead of the conference.
"This is a war of independence for sovereignty in this land, against a fifth column, with the support of some of those in this bad government. Just say 'no' to terror," he said.
Smotrich added, "If we don't face reality, we won't be able to deal with it. When there is no recognition of the state's right to exist, there is no compliance and no governance."
He continued: "In recent months, Arab violence against Jews has begun to dangerously raise its head. The Israel Police and law enforcement authorities are tasked with [ensuring] citizens' security and are not doing their jobs, and that has to stop. It cannot be that authorities continue to turn a blind eye and [offer] various excuses. This is not a handful of rioters, this is not a case of neglect or discrimination – this is years of turning a blind eye to growing Islamization and nationalism in Arab society.
"Unfortunately, as we have seen in mixed cities every week, the situation is grave today, and it is only getting worse. If the state won't take responsibility soon and act with a firm hand against lawbreakers, we will find ourselves with dangerous terrorist pockets inside the State of Israel, and that is a reality we cannot accept."
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