Far-right Israeli MP and former Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized on Saturday the high birthrate among the Bedouin community in the Negev region, describing it as a “demographic time bomb”.
In remarks seen as direct incitement against the community, he claimed that the birthrate is a ticking time bomb that must be defused before it blows up.
The community boasts some 200,000 people, and “they are doubling every 12 years,” he added.
Israel must take action to curb this trend, he suggested.
“The more Western you make them, the more the birthrate will come down,” alleged Smotrich, saying he was keen on preserving the Jewish majority not just for the sake of Israel, but the Negev.
He added that Israel should not intervene to alter the birthrate, because change will come on its own if the Bedouins join cities and become part of organized societies and if they become better educated and obtain jobs.
Smotrich’s remarks prompted a response from Arab MP Ahmed al-Tibi, who tweeted in German that the former minister had just months ago described settlers who carry bombs as children and the Bedouin children as a demographic time bomb.
He slammed such racist remarks a week after Israeli forces killed Palestinian Iyad al-Hallak in Jerusalem, “for no other crime than being a Palestinian Arab.”
Israel is seeking to impose its control over the Negev and expel its Bedouin residents. Last year, the government proposed a plan to relocate some 36,000 Arab Bedouins to villages and towns that are not recognized by Israeli authorities.
The Bedouins vehemently rejected the plan, but that has not deterred Israel, which is seeking to claim their 260,000 dunams of land.
