JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media that Israel is “not a country of all its citizens” but rather “the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
Netanyahu was responding to an Instagram post on Saturday night by the Israeli actress and television personality Rotem Sela. Sela had accuzed Israel’s culture minister, Miri Regev, of fear-mongering during an interview on Israeli television in which she said that voting for the center-left Blue and White party of Benny Gantz would lead to a government coalition with Arab parties.
“Dear God, there are also Arab citizens in this country,” Sela wrote. “When will anyone in this government tell the public that this is a country of all its citizens, and all people are born equal.”
Netanyahu responded Sunday morning on Instagram and Facebook.
“Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens,” the prime minister wrote. “According to the nation-state law we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people — and not anyone else.
“As you wrote, there is no problem with Israel’s Arab citizens. They have equal rights and the Likud government has invested more than any other government in the Arab population.” But he added that a government including Arab parties would “undercut the state’s security.”
Sela, who hosts several Israeli reality shows, including “Israel’s Next Star,” received many responses to her post — for and against — including some she characterized as “disgusting” and “revolting.”
Her good friend Gal Gadot, the “Wonder Woman” actress, posted a message in support, which read in part: “Love your neighbor as yourself … The responsibility to sow hope and light for a better future for our children is on us. Rotem, sister, you are the inspiration for us all.”
Nearly 1.9 million, or 20 percent, of Israel’s nearly 9 million citizens are Arabs.
