Galilee council head apologizes for comments on Arabs and pools
July 29, 2016Lower Galilee Regional Council head Motti Dotan on Friday apologized for his controversial comments a day earlier, when he said he “didn’t want to see Arabs in our pools” when asked about the practice of barring access to local swimming pools to non-residents.
“Dear friends, Jews and Arabs alike! Yesterday during a broadcast on the radio, I was asked about the homogeneous population which visits the swimming pools in the council. In my reply I related to the cultural differences between populations and their conduct in the pool…unfortunately I may have not been properly understood and may have chosen the wrong words. I apologize to all who feel hurt by my comments!” Dotan wrote on Facebook.
“As many of you know, I love all people and live in peace with the variety of populations populations in the region. I believe that we will continue to live like this in the future and wish us all a Shabbat Shalom and a pleasant and safe summer,” he added.
In the controversial interview on Radio Kol Rega on Thursday, Dotan insisted he bears no malice towards Israel’s Arab population, but recognizes there are different cultural norms.
“I don’t hate Arabs,” said Dotan, “but I don’t want to see them in our pools.”
“I don’t go to their pools,” he added, saying that there is a clear difference between the two cultures. “Why is that racist?”
“If they would behave according to our norms, then I’d have no problem. But that doesn’t happen, so I generalize. When Jewish men and women will feel comfortable in an Arab town, then I will be happy to have them over. But until that happens, I don’t want them.”
“This is about cultural differences, it is not racist…in the Arabic, non-Jewish culture, they enter the pool with clothes, try to dictate different forms of clothing and that does not suit us. Their culture of cleanliness is not the same as ours. Why is that racist?” said Dotan.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
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