A Jewish Israeli politician said that recent violent attacks by Palestinians on Israelis were partly due to the Jewish state’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai shocked many Israelis when he made the remarks Thursday morning, according to the progressive Israeli news site 972 Magazine.
Israel is “perhaps the only country in the world holding another nation under occupation without civil rights,” Huldai said.
Tel Aviv's mayor says what no U.S. president has https://t.co/BgbytgktpK
— Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ) June 9, 2016
A shooting attack apparently by two Palestinian men in a popular mall in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday night left four people dead and a half dozen others wounded.
Israel has been undergoing a wave of similar attacks since October, but this was one of the more deadlier assaults.
"You can’t hold people in a situation of occupation and hope they’ll reach the conclusion everything is all right,” Huldai said, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Aronoth.
"We ask the public to remain calm… We will continue to enjoy living in the city, and terrorism will not make us surrender. I ask everyone to return to their daily routine tomorrow,” he said.
-Hunter Stuart
