Aryeh King, Jerusalem Councilman of the United Jerusalem faction, has begun a new campaign distributing thousands of fliers to Arab residents of Jerusalem, urging them to leave Israel.
“You have many large countries that you can live in. Understand that we returned to Israel to fulfill what is written in the Torah,” reads the flier. “It isn’t easy for millions of people to abandon their homes without any monetary help. Therefore we propose that you negotiate with the state of Israel to receive economic aid to move and live elsewhere.”
King is the Chairperson of the Jerualem Municipality’s Environment Committee, as well as its Emergency and Security Committee. He is also the director and founder of the Israel Land Fund, and ran as number 4 on the list of candidates for Otzmah Leyisrael in the last Knesset elections.
The flier includes the following message, in Arabic:
A call to all Muslims living in the land of Israel. We want to explain to you in this letter the words of the Torah regarding non-Jewish residents in the land of Israel.
Firstly, we say every person was born from the same G-d and every believing person should be treated with respect; therefore the Jewish religion isn’t racist but humane.
As believing Jews we returned to Israel to fulfill the Torah; in the Torah it is written that the land of Israel is meant for (the Patriarchs) Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov and their grandchildren, and no one else. All agree that we are the great grandchildren of the ancient people of Israel.
…In the Torah it is also written that the land of Israel, this small land, belongs to the Jewish people alone and it is forbidden for others to live here in a permanent manner.
According to the Torah, the Jewish people were exiled from their land and remained in exile two thousand years. Now that the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel, the time has come for them to fulfill this divine commandment.
Therefore we demand that you leave the land of Israel. We say this from a religious perspective, in order to ensure peace in the land of Israel.
We are explaining things written in the Torah as well as the Koran, and we reason that when you understand that we don’t hate you or want to make war on Islam, you’ll understand our desire to fulfill the commandment as is written in the Koran: there is no G-d but Allah.
The Jerusalem municipality said in response that it “doesn’t recognize, isn’t connected with or hold responsibility for private letters of elected officials written on their opinion alone, and we encourage contacting them directly to receive a statement. It is unnecessary to note that the official positions of the municipality on every issue are decided in an organized process and certified by the city council.”