Knesset member and coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) kicked off another storm over the weekend when he echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial statements during the last Knesset elections. Bitan went even further. At a public event on Dec. 10, Bitan defamed Israeli Arab citizens when he said, “If they weren’t able to come [to vote], that would be preferable.”

A similar sentiment about the vote of Israeli Arabs first appeared in a video clip disseminated by Netanyahu last election day, when the prime minister was afraid of losing the government. He used a scare technique on his constituents by saying "the right-wing government is in danger" and "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls.”

It is difficult to determine the effects of the clip on the election results, because no scientific study has been published to date on the subject. However, most political commentators agree that Netanyahu’s desperate plea to his voters on election day went a long way toward sealing his victory in the election.

Netanyahu apologized twice for his words. The first time was about a week after the elections, when he hosted a group of Arab and Druze mayors in his Jerusalem residence. They applauded when Netanyahu apologized to them and said, “I view myself as the prime minister of each and every citizen of Israel, without any prejudice based on religion, ethnicity or gender.” The Arab Knesset members, who were not invited to the meeting, rejected Netanyahu’s apology.