U.S. Condemns Smotrich’s ’Repugnant, Disgusting’ Call for Israel to Wipe Out Palestinian Village
Mar 1, 2023 - Ben SamuelsWashington - Israel News - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-03-01/ty-article/.premium/u-s-condemns-smotrichs-repugnant-disgusting-call-to-wipe-off-palestinian-village/00000186-9eb2-d930-a7ae-dffe27000000
WASHINGTON - The United States on Wednesday sharply condemned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for the destruction of a West Bank Palestinian village on Wednesday, days after it was attacked by a mob of settlers who torched dozens of homes and reportedly killed one resident.
“The village of Hawara needs to be wiped out. I think that the State of Israel needs to do that – not, God forbid, private individuals,” Smotrich said when asked why he had “liked” a tweet by the deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, Davidi Ben Zion, who called for Hawara to be “wiped out today.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said “I want to be very clear about this. These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant. They were disgusting. And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amounts to incitement to violence.”
“We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials to publicly and clearly reject and disavow these comments, we condemn, as we have consistently terrorism and extremism, and all of its forms and we continue to urge that there’ll be equal measures of accountability for extremist actions, regardless of the background of the perpetrators, or the victims,” Price added. (...)