Bibi or Tibi or Tibi or Tibi

Netanyahu's campaign of incitement continues unabated:

The current election campaign has political thinking turned “on its head,” the president argued, condemning the “entirely unacceptable remarks about the Arab citizens of Israel” made by some politicians.

Rivlin did not mention any names, but he was likely referring to right-wing parties, including Netanyahu’s Likud, that have repeatedly accused their center-left rivals of planning to rely on Arab parties in their future government coalition.

Bibi or Tibi, the saying goes, in reference to Ahmed Tibi, the most prominent Arab politician in Israel.

Folks, a million and a half Arabs live in Israel, most of them Muslim. They are full fledged citizens of Israel and Arabic is one of the nation's official languages.

This ToI article has some fascinating polling data. 55% of Arabs are proud to be Israelis but 76% reject Israel as a Jewish state, which makes some sense we guess.

Which is not to say that Arabs don't face intense cultural discrimination. Let's just say there's some tension there. Arabs don't always make things easy on themselves. A few of their politicians have cozied up to Assad while many express sympathy for the Palestinians.

We think the gap between Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis doesn't get bridged until there's peace.

So fat chance with Bibi around.