Arab MKs: Iran news agency falsified anti-Israel remarks attri...

Israeli Arab lawmakers denied on Saturday making statements that were attributed to them in an interview with official Iranian media.

In the Iranian report, three members of Knesset - Jamal Zahalka, Ahmed Tibi, and Taleb al-Sana - reportedly issued blistering criticism of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, with one member of Knesset said to have warned that the Arab minority in Israel possesses "a demographic weapon" against the Jewish state.

"We are first and foremost Palestinians who are concerned with Palestinian interests," Balad MK Jamal Zahalka is said to have told the Iranian state news agency Fars on Saturday. "The aggressive nature of Zionist society towards the Arabs stems from the fear of the demographic weapon that we have as Palestinians who live here. This exposes the policy of occupation to possible harm in the qualitative balance between Israelis and the Palestinians and this is a situation Israel refuses to get to."

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After the contents of the interview was made public, the three parliamentarians denied giving the interview. "We do not know these journalists and we deny that these things were said," said one MK, who demanded that Fars remove the report. "This is bizarre behavior from a professional and journalistic standpoint," United Arab List - Ta'al MK Tibi told Haaretz. "I was never interviewed by them. This interview was faked and concocted."