Herzog, Livni met by calls of 'You have blood on your hands' at campaign event in Arab area

Liberman: Just as Hamas was outlawed in Egypt today, this is how we need to outlaw these extremist factors and take their Israeli citizenship and remove them from Israel.

Tzipi Livni attends a Zionist Union conference in the Israeli-Arab city of Shfaram in northern Israel  (photo credit: REUTERS)
Tzipi Livni attends a Zionist Union conference in the Israeli-Arab city of Shfaram in northern Israel
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Police arrested six protesters Saturday as dozens of Israeli Arabs demonstrated against the leaders of the Zionist Union on a visit to the Wadi Ara region in the North, yelling, “You have blood on your hands.”
Four residents of the Arab town of Arara and two from Umm el-Fahm were arrested for allegedly attacking police officers, according to the police website. A number of police officers were lightly wounded.
Protesters greeted Zionist Union leaders Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni by waving Palestinian flags and holding signs such as “Zionist Camp - Radical Camp,” Channel 10 reported.
They also said there was no difference between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Herzog, the Israeli-Arab website Bokra.net reported.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, reacting to the incident, wrote on Facebook that this is “more proof for those that still needed it, also for Herzog and Livni themselves, that some of the Israeli Arabs are not only enemies of the ‘Zionist Union,’ but enemies of Zionism as a whole.”
Liberman added that “just as Hamas was outlawed in Egypt today [as a terrorist organization], this is how we need to outlaw these extremist elements and take their Israeli citizenship and remove them from Israel.”
The Zionist Union also began publishing campaign advertisements in the Israeli Arab media.
A banner appeared on the Bokra.net and Panet containing a picture of Herzog and fellow Labor candidate, Israeli Arab Zouheir Bahloul, a former soccer commentator.
Last month, the Zionist Union was forced to cancel a planned campaign event in Nazareth, likely due to pressure from the Arab Joint List and its supporters, media reported at the time.
The Kul al-Arab site reported the visit was dropped because the mayor and the municipality had come under pressure from the Joint List, which feared the Zionist Union would take away Arab votes.
Kul al-Arab owner and general manager Fayez Eshtiwy told The Jerusalem Post at the time that he had heard Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam canceled because he was sick with a cold. However, “the question is if that is the truth.”
Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.