RAMALLAH, Monday, August 21, 2023 (WAFA) - The Arab local councils in Israel today demonstrated in Jerusalem against the racist policies of the Israeli government, its withholding of financial allocations, and its encouragement of crime.

Mansour Dahamsha, secretary of the Arab Follow-up Committee, told the official Voice of Palestine radio that today's strike and protest demonstration in front of the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a first warning step that will be followed by other steps until the government backs down from its racist and fascist approach towards the Palestinian people in Israel.

He stressed that schools will not open their doors at the beginning of the school year as part of the protest steps, leading to a general strike due to the withholding of more than 20 billion Israeli shekels of financial allocations.

Israel’s racist and fascist Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich refused to release the money allocated in the budget for the Arab local councils under various pretexts but mainly due to his hatred of Arabs, as confirmed by many officials.

M.K.