Thousands of Arabs protested on Monday on the 12th anniversary of the “Israeli Arab intifada,” in which Arabs rioting in northern Israel in October 2000 faced off against police and security forces. Twelve Arabs were killed during those riots.

The 2000 riots, in Nazareth and other largely Arab towns in northern Israel, were held in sympathy with the riots being conducted by Palestinian Authority Arabs, who went on a relentless terror campaign against Israeli Jews. The riots in northern Israel amounted to an insurrection by Arabs, with calls for the end of the Jewish state and Palestinian flags flying, and Israel, fearing a new front in the Arab uprising, quickly quashed the riots

Protesters on Monday decried the “murder” of the rioters in 2000, claiming that the State was trying to damage Arab interests, and did not care if it murdered innocent Arabs. MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra’am-Ta’al), a former close associate of arch-terrorists Yasser Arafat, said that “we will not forget, nor will we forgive, the murders. Those who murdered our people must be tried and punished. A country that murders its citizens and rewards their killers is a murderous, racist country,” Tibi said.

MK Taleb a-Sana said that “if the government does not act justly, we will make justice. If it does not punish the guilty, we will punish them. He will not forgive, nor will we forget, and we will allow the blood of any Arab to be cheapened,” he added.