H.E. Mr. Boaz Modai:

I am trying. In 1948, there were no Palestinians. They were called Arabs, because everybody who lived in Israel was a Palestinian, including Jews, until 1948.

Members may not know that but that was the situation. More than 700,000 Arabs left their homes, many because of a promise by Arab leaders and the leadership of the Arab population there that if they left, they could come back after the Jews were thrown into the sea. We all remember that. More or less at the same time, 850,000 Jews were expelled from, or were forced to leave, Arab countries, including Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and many more countries.

If one is speaking about refugees, there were more Jewish refugees, but the difference is huge. The Jewish refugees immediately became citizens of the State of Israel. They were well absorbed into the society and now their children and grandchildren live as Israeli citizens. The Palestinians were never rehabilitated because it was the purpose of the Arab world to use them as a political tool. That is why we think the organisation, UNRWA, which is in charge of Palestinian refugees, creates a big problem. From the 1950s, there were 50 million refugees around the world. The other refugees do not exist anymore; they were absorbed into different societies all around the world. I am not only speaking of those who left but about the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who are considered by members to be refugees who have the right to go back to their homes. If that is the case, my deputy has the right to go back to her home in Poland because that is from where her family was expelled. Millions of Israelis may have that right, so this is not how it works.

During the previous century, tens of millions of people moved from one area to another as a result of different wars, so if one is speaking about the right of return - by the way, this is a special innovation - and the right of return to a different country, if people asked for the right of return to the future Palestinian state, it would make sense, but the right of return to a different country makes no sense to me.

Reference was made to Arabs having to stand in different lines. When I entered this country, I had to stand in line, not with EU passport holders but with others because this is the law. There were too many cases in which Arabs tried to blow themselves up in airports, ports and other places, so we took measures. It does not mean anything in terms of their rights and it does not show any kind of racism.

After the war in 2009, we also expected progress and that things would get calmer but, unfortunately, it did not take more than three years before we were attacked again. The number of children dead is terrible. Let me ask a question. I do not know if members have children or grandchildren but let me presume they do. If they walked out onto the street with their child and somebody pointed a gun to their head, would they hold a little child in front of them in order to protect themselves? Of course not. Nobody would do so. Nobody with any sense would do that.