Tel Aviv mayor slams Netanyahu over security issues

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai slammed on Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his remarks following a Friday shooting attack in the city in which he discussed the need to eradicate lawlessness in the Arab sector.

"Netanyahu cannot provide security to the citizens of Israel so he is lashing out at the entire Arab community in the country," Huldai told Xinhua on Sunday.

The mayor of the city which suffered the shooting attack on Friday, in which an Arab Israeli killed two people and injured six, said Netanyahu is "frustrated" that he cannot solve the security issues for Israeli citizens.

"I feel that Netanyahu has nothing to offer so he finds some scapegoat, other people, supposedly to blame for the current situation, while he failed to act in the past seven years as prime minister," Huldai said. "Instead of saying I don't have the answers, he lashed out at the Arab Israelis," he added.

Huldai, a member of the left-wing Labor party (currently part of the Zionist Union list) has been said to be a possible future contender for the leadership of the party.

His comments refer to Netanyahu's statement at the Tel Aviv scene of the attack on Saturday evening, in which he said he would order authorities to increase enforcement at the Arab sector, where there unsupervised weapons, and talked about the "Muslim incitement," charging Arabs who wish to be Israeli citizens "must be fully Israel -- both in rights and obligations, and abide by the laws of the state."

Huldai was not alone in the criticism, and was joined by Israeli lawmakers from the opposition -- specifically from the Joint List which includes Arab parties -- who slammed what they dubbed as incitement by the prime minister.

"Netanyahu is the same Netanyahu who warned on Election Day that the Arabs are being bused in droves by left wing groups in order to topple his regime," Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi wrote on his twitter account.

In an interview with Israel Radio on Sunday morning, Tibi added that not only is Netanyahu's remarks "irresponsible" but that it is "the action of a politician who is dancing on the blood of the attack."

"His whole goal is to be more right-wing than Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman," Tibi said, referring to the leaders of the nationalist Jewish Home and Israel Beytenu parties, respectively.

Arab lawmakers also denounced Netanyahu for failing to address criminal issues the residents in Arab villages suffer from.

Netanyahu, on his part, brushed off the criticism and reiterated his determination to increase enforcement in the Arab sector on Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting.

While acknowledging the suffering of Arabs in the villages from crime, he added that Israeli citizens "suffer from incitement and violence, both criminal and nationalistic" and called plans to increase law enforcement a "genuine effort."

He also said he instructed authorities to enforce law "regarding the noise we hear from mosques, the incitement in mosques and on social media and in education system" and collect illegal weapons.

"Enforcing the law is the life's breath of democracy," Netanyahu said. "This is the right thing and I am not impressed by the criticism on the issue," he added.

Security forces are still on the lookout for Nashat Milhem, the 29-year-old Arab Israeli who carried the attack on Friday and managed to flee the scene.

Milhem served time in the past in Israeli prison for snatching the weapons of a soldier and was diagnosed as mentally unstable. His cousin was shot and killed by Israeli policemen in 2006.

His motive for the attack, whether identification with the Islamic State (IS) or part of an ongoing wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence or another cause, has not been determined yet by the authorities. Endit