Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said that he would ask his new interior minister Gilad Erdan to consider cancelling the citizenship of those who called for the destruction of the state of Israel.
The northern Israel town of Kafr Hanna has been the scene of sporadic clashes between angry Arabs, on one hand, and Israeli police, on the other, after the killing by Israeli police of a 22-year-old Arab in the morning on Saturday.
The man was accused of trying to assault an Israeli policeman with a knife. Even with this, the alleged assault by the Arab man was not clear in footage by a camera near the site of his killing by Israeli police.
The Arab residents of Israel – sometimes called the Arabs of 1948 – carry the Israeli nationality.
Netanyahu’s office described Arab demonstrations in Kafr Kanna earlier in the day against the killing of the 22-year-old man as “riots.”
“Israel is a state of law that will not tolerate either riots or turbulence,” Netanyahu was quoted by the statement as saying.
He vowed to take measures against those who throw rocks and block roads and also those who call for Israel’s replacement with a Palestinian state.
He said that he would ask his interior minister to revoke the Israeli nationality of those who called for the destruction of the state of Israel.
The 22-year-old Arab was killed earlier on Saturday when he stood in the way of an Israeli force that went to Kafr Kanna to arrest another Arab, according to Mujahid Awawdeh, the head of the local council of the town.