The fifth lawmaker on the Arab-Israeli political party 'Ra'am' party list, Knesset Member Yasser Hujirat, spoke about the possibility of recruiting young Arabs into the Israel Defense Forces. His suggestion was met with a full frontal assault from a minor Arab party that failed to get enough votes to enter the Knesset during the last round of voting.
Hujirat, a rookie in the Knesset who won a seat in the most recent election, was interviewed by the ARABTV channel and spoke about the recruitment to the IDF among the Bedouin community in Israel. "There is a decrease in the recruitment rate in the Bedouin community. I try to educate people that if mandatory conscription is in exchange for receiving full rights, we will pay the price." Hujirat later added that "I am against conscription under the current circumstances, because I demand full equality of rights."
This statement by Hujirat was perceived by the Arab members of the Knesset from the various parties as setting a condition according to which if there is full equality of rights, the member of the Knesset from Ra'am will change his position and support conscription into the IDF.
Ella is the first #Muslim Arab #woman to publicly become a major in the #IDF.
— NJA (@NJA_UK) January 8, 2023
We #applaud Ella as this is an absolutely amazing #achievement!
Well done!
This further shows that Israel apartheid claims are bogus.https://t.co/7h6iCsemfF
The Balad Party, which supports allowing millions of Palestinian 'refugees' to return to Israel and handing Jerusalem to the Palestinians to serve as their capital, was quick to condemn the remarks and warned that "such dangerous statements that legitimize military service in exchange for budgets."
Israel's Christian population increased by 2% in 2022.
— The View from Israel (@netre25) January 7, 2023
This is mainly due to Arab Christians finding refuge from Muslim persecution in Israel.
Palestinian Christian population has plummeted.
Arab Christians are volunteering to serve in IDF & police force. https://t.co/Wwag6Q2fYT
In a statement on behalf of the party, it was further stated "these are statements that are outside the national and social consensus of our people and our society. They lead to a distortion of the minds of our Palestinian Arab youth who think that relations with Zionism should be normalized in a practical way. It's a threat to identity, belonging, social fabric, and nationalism."
The statement continued: "Balad calls on all the bodies that represent our people, to condemn and reject these statements and warn against their consequences, especially when they come as a result of the political and national deviation led by Ra'am in recent times since its decision to join a Zionist government coalition hostile to our people and their historical rights."
Mansour Abbas and his Ra’am members now voting in favor of an IDF service law in the Knesset. Another taboo broken (also, he’s forsaking the alliance he once had with the Haredi parties who oppose the law)
— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) January 17, 2022
Ra'am immediately attacked Balad and blamed them for the current right-wing government, in which Balad was not able to pass the threshold after refusing to join other Arab parties in an election coalition. "We and the entire Arab society are waiting for Balad to apologize for the kind service it gave to the extreme right and Netanyahu in burning over 130,000 Arab votes…Thanks to them an extreme government was established. We suggest that they do a tenth of what Ra'am does for Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, the Palestinian people, and the Islamic movement wherever it may be and not be content with fighting on Facebook."
