This has got to be one of the more disgusting videos I’ve seen. The Otzma LeYisrael party, headed by ultra-right wing MKs Aryeh Eldad and Kahanist Michael Ben-Ari have posted their first campaign video to be shown on Israeli TV on YouTube (according to Ben-Ari’s Facebook page). The televised election campaigns kick off Tuesday night, when Israelis can watch the official pitches from the political parties running for Knesset, every evening until the elections.
The first part of the video is text in Hebrew, blaming Arabs for not paying taxes such as income tax and Arnona (a municipal property tax).
The next segment (00:32) opens with Ben-Ari pouring coffee for Eldad from a finjan into a small glass, saying “Tfadal” (please) with a grin on his face. This particular moment reeks from so much racism, it sends a chill down the spine. From then on, it’s all in Arabic. Both the racists read off their messages, intended for Jewish ears, of course, that “without obligations, there are no rights.”
The video and message is very reminiscent of Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s (No. 2 in Likud Beiteinu joint list) election campaign from 2009, whose slogan was “without loyalty, there is no citizenship.” The video below, from 2009, ends with the message “Only Lieberman understands Arabic.” Both these campaigns draw on the old right-wing notion that “we know how to deal with the Arabs.”