OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 20 February 2004 — Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim caused outrage in leftist opposition ranks yesterday when he said Palestinian killings of Jews could be explained by a “genetic defect,” public radio reported.
Boim was speaking at a memorial ceremony for 37 passengers killed on a bus by a Palestinian commando on March 11, 1978 north of the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.
Left-wing opposition MPs Ophir Pines and Avshalom Vilan immediately slammed the “racist” nature of Boim’s declarations, demanding he withdraw them on the spot. “This is pure racism, it’s madness. How is possible that 60 years after the Shoah (the Nazi genocide of the Jews) a governmental official could entertain such racist thoughts,” said Vilan.
But Yehiel Hazan, who like Boim is a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s right-wing Likud party, fully backed his colleague. “I think (Boim) is absolutely right. For hundreds of years Arabs have been slaughtering Jews ... they have it in their blood, this is genetic. There is no other way to explain” the killings of Jews, he told public radio.
