Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel is 'not a state of all its citizens'

In response to an Israeli actress who criticized the government for the way it treats Arab citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declared that Israel "is not a country of all its citizens."

In 2018, Israel passed a "nation-state law," declaring that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and downgrading Arabic to a language with "special status." In his message on Sunday, directed at actress Rotem Sela and posted on social media, Netanyahu said because of this "basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people — and only it."

He said his rightwing Likud party has "invested more in the Arab sector than any other government," and Arab citizens "have equal rights like all of us." At a Cabinet meeting later in the day, Netanyahu expressed that Israel, with its 17 percent Arab population, is a "Jewish, democratic state" and a "nation state not of all its citizens but only of the Jewish people."

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Israelis will head to the polls on April 9, and critics say Netanyahu is likely trying to drum up support from rightwing voters. Netanyahu is facing indictment on corruption charges, and The Guardian reports he's being strongly challenged by a centrist political alliance led by Yair Lapid, a former finance minister, and Benny Gantz, a former military chief of staff.