Arab-Israelis Not Loyal to State Should Be Beheaded, Says Israel's FM

Avigdor Lieberman has gone on record saying that Arab citizens who are not loyal to Israel should have their heads “chopped off with an axe.”

Lieberman, also the leader of the secularist nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, is an outspoken critic of Israel’s Arab population. He made the remarks during a speech on Sunday at an election rally in the city of Herzliya, Newsweek reported.

"Those who are with us deserve everything, but those who are against us deserve to have their heads chopped off with an axe," Lieberman said.

An Arab-Israeli audience member asked what would become of her, should his policy come to pass, to which he replied,  “I have no problem with your being a citizen. I expect all Arabs, Christians and Jews to be loyal to the state, regardless of religious affiliation, and to serve in the IDF. We accept and encourage those who identify with us.”

He also said that those who wave a black flag on “Nakba Day” (Day of Catastrophe), that references the fleeing of Palestinians from their homes after the creation of  Israel in 1948, should be forced to live in Palestinian territories.

“Those who raise the black flag on 'Nakba Day' in mourning over the establishment of Israel do not belong here, as far as I am concerned, and I am quite willing to donate them to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas,” he said. “It would be my pleasure.”

This is not the first time Lieberman has made such controversial remarks aimed at Arab-Israeli citizens. He recently vowed to introduce the death penalty for Palestinian “terrorists.” And in November, he proposed offering financial incentives to Arab-Israeli citizens who would agree to move out of Israeli territory in case of the creation of a Palestinian state.