That he uttered them unapologetically, publicly and in Arabic makes him not only courageous, but credible.
The views expressed in this piece are her own.
The risk he took by splitting from the Joint Arab List bloc and adopting a pragmatic approach has paid off big-time.
But he said he was choosing pragmatism over the ideology of remaining on the outside of any Israeli government.
But he may well say that not because of his credentials as head of an Israeli Islamic Party - United Arab List - and one would have thought he would castigate the Jewish state.
Among the Arab Joint List party, all six representatives opposed the new government.