National Union MK Ben-Ari to march with rightists through Umm al-Fahm

National Union MK Michael Ben Ari on Sunday informed the Knesset's head of security that he planned to participate in a right-wing march set to take place in Umm al-Fahm, Israel's second-largest Arab city, later this week.

"It's a horrible situation that in certain regions within Israel, all signs of sovereignty have been removed," Ben Ari told Haaretz. "This process has become so accepted and legitimized that anyone raising the Israeli flag is dubbed an instigator. The situation has been turned on its head."

With regard to fears that riots could break out in the city during the rightists' march, MK Ben Ari said that he was "confident in the Israel Police's ability to maintain rule of law by arresting the hate-mongering rioters, as they have done in the past."

Ben-Ari added that police know "who must be blocked in order to prevent a public disturbance."

According to the lawmaker, the intention of the rally is "to parade Israeli flags, not enemy flags."

"This is the country in which Umm al-Fahm residents live, and which finances and finances them," said Ben-Ari.

Responses to Ben Ari's statement were quick to arrive. Hadash MK Afu Aghbaria, a resident of Umm al-Fahm and chairman of the Knesset lobby for the advancement of Arab-Jewish relations, said that he was not surprised by the right-wing MK's plan to join the rally.

"We aren't shocked at the racist conduct of this bizarre bunch," Aghbaria said, adding that he and the rest of Umm al-Fahm would not allow "either Ben-Ari or anyone of his gang to set foot in the city."

Police and right-wing participants have already agreed on the rally's route, but have refused to release such information to the public.

Rally organizer Itamar Ben-Gvir, an extreme right-wing activist and Ben-Ari's parliamentary aide, told Haaretz on Sunday that marchers were "not happy with the arrangement, since we feel it sends out the wrong message. However we won't publish the route. We will uphold the agreement since we are men of our word."

Ben-Gvir added that the general strike announced by the Umm al-Fahm city council for the day of the march would not deter the rally organizers.

"We demand from the police to take decisive and firm measures against anyone threatening democracy, freedom of speech, as well as Zionism," he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Arab political leaders have called for widespread enlistment of the Arab public to come to Umm al-Fahm on the day of the march to form a demonstrating force against the rightists.

Amir Makhoul, chairman of the High Arab Monitoring Committee, released a statement on Sunday calling for the widest public assembly possible in order to prevent the marchers' entry into the city. He urged human-rights and activists and Arab lawyers to come to the city as well, to record the occurrences.

In his announcement, Makhoul attacked the Israel Police as biased in favor of the Jewish marcher: "The police is not a neutral side. They show a lack of interest in maintaining civic order. It's a mechanism geared at the oppression of our public to rally against such attacks that are directed at it."

On Thursday, Israel Police told far-rightists Baruch Marzel and Ben-Gvir that they would be permitted to march through Umm al-Fahm on Tuesday. The decision followed a High Court ruling made two months ago which stipulated that the march could only be held a month and a half after parliamentary elections.