State Department says Israeli finance minister’s call to wipe out Palestinian village ‘repugnant’

The U.S. State Department denounced the Israeli finance minister’s call for the elimination of a Palestinian village as “repugnant,” calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials to repudiate the comments.

Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the remarks that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made, saying that Israel should “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank, were wrong and emphasized that the department condemns terrorism and extremism “in all of its forms.” 

“I want to be very clear about this. These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant; they were disgusting,” Price said. “And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence.” 

Smotrich, who is the leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party and also oversees civilian affairs in the West Bank, made the comments after another Israeli lawmaker made remarks backing a riot that occurred in the town. 

Tensions have been rising significantly in the region recently, and violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians have broken out. After a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israeli brothers in the Israeli settlement of Har Bracha on Sunday, many Israeli settlers responded by rioting in the streets of Hawara, home to both Israelis and Palestinians. 

In the ensuing violence, Israeli gunfire killed a 37-year-old Palestinian and injured two others. Another Palestinian was beaten with a crowbar, while about 95 needed to receive medical treatment after they inhaled gas. Rioters set fire to dozens of cars and homes. 

Yehuda Fuchs, who is the top Israeli general in charge of the West Bank, told an Israeli media outlet that the incident was a “pogrom.” Officials for the Israeli Defense Forces vowed to investigate what happened. 

Violence continued Monday as a Palestinian gunman is suspected of killing an Israeli motorist near the Palestinian city of Jericho. 

Smotrich was asked at a financial conference about him liking a tweet from the deputy mayor of the Samaria Regional Council, which governs a portion of the Israeli settlements, saying that Israeli should “wipe out the village of Huwara today.” 

“Because I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it,” Smotrich responded, The Times of Israel reported. 

Price said at the briefing that the State Department has already expressed its concerns with the “widescale, indiscriminate violence” from settlers against Palestinians. 

“It is imperative, in some ways now more than ever, that Israelis and Palestinians work together, again, to de-escalate these tensions and to restore the calm that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve,” he said. 

Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, noted to CNN that Israel has been the victim of attacks recently but said Smotrich’s comments were not in line with Israeli policy and values.

“Notwithstanding the fact that Israel has been subjected to a recent wave of horrific terror attacks against its civilians, it is absolutely not Israeli policy, and it’s against our values to respond by wiping out civilian villages,” Herzog said. 

Smotrich took on a top role in Israel’s government at the end of last year as part of a coalition government that Netanyahu formed. The government is the most far-right in Israel’s 75-year history.