'Inciting Ministers' Face Libel Suits, Probe by Comptroller
Cheshvan 5, 5769, 03 November 08 10:19
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu(IsraelNN.com) Yesha activists plan to sue two Cabinet ministers for libel and incitement following the ministers' allegations that Yesha residents are planning assassinations. Likud Knesset Member Michael Eitan has asked State Comptroller and Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss to investigate whether the government is establishing anti-Yesha policies for election purposes.
National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) and Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon (Kadima) echoed statements by Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yuval Diskin at Sunday's Cabinet meeting that "extremists" are planning political assassinations to disrupt negotiations for a new Arab state within Israel's current borders.
Their comments came a week before the 13th anniversary of the death of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, who was killed by Herzliya resident Yigal Amir.
"In 1995, I said there would be a murder here, and today I am saying the same thing," Minister Ben-Eliezer said.
Yesha activist Benny Katzover said he wants Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to investigate the ministers for libel and incitement.
"We warn the government that their statements against Jews are interpreted by Arabs as a green light to murder Jews," he said. He referred to recent anti-Jewish riots and beatings of Jews by Israeli Arabs in Lod and Akko.
MK Eitan charged the government with political campaign tactics in its Cabinet decision Sunday to cut off funds to dozens of hilltop communities. He asked rhetorically why Defense Minister Ehud Barak "suddenly changed his mind" and recently ordered the IDF to expel several allegedly potentially dangerous Jews from their homes after not having done so previously.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai (Labor) replied that politics are not involved in the change in government policies, which he said "should have been changed long ago."
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