"Irresponsible and repulsive statement":
US State Department spokesman Ned Price today (Wednesday) attacked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who said earlier that Hvara should be "erased": Price called on Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to condemn these statements.
According to Price, the statements "come to the point of incitement to violence."
Strong condemnation.
State Department spokesman Ned Price, photo: Reuters
"(expression) irresponsible, disgusting, disgusting.
And as we condemn incitement to violence on the part of the Palestinians - we condemn these provocative things that lead to incitement to violence.
We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to reject and disavow these things," Price said.
Liked the post calling for the village to be deleted and then retracted it.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
His words come as mentioned after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented on the uproar surrounding the "like" he made to a tweet by the deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, who called for Havara to be wiped out, hours before riots settled there.
Smotrich refused to apologize for this even today, saying at the De Marker conference: "Why did I like the tweet? Because I think the village of Hvara should be deleted."
However, he clarified that "the state is the one that should erase Hvara".
Severe clashes in Hawara after the attack // Arab Networks
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the condemnation and said: "Smotrich does not represent the values of the State of Israel or the people of Israel.
We are committed to the principles advocated by our Declaration of Independence.
We will continue to protect our people from terrorism and we will do so in accordance with democratic values.'
"Smotrich does not represent the values of the country."
Yair Lapid, photo: AFP
After that, Smotrich published a clarification: "Once again, the media is taking my quote and trying to create a distorted interpretation of it. If they had played the full part of my words, you would have heard that I was talking about how Hawara is a hostile village that has become an outpost of terrorism from which terrorist acts of Throwing stones and shooting at Jews, but it is forbidden in any way to take the law into one's hands."
"I said that I support a disproportionate response by the IDF and the security forces for every act of terrorism. For every stone - the closing of the shops on the spot, for every Molotov cocktail - the arrests and deportation of the terrorists' families, for every terrorist nest - a closure and the collection of a painful price until the terrorists and their supporters realize that blood Our children are not destitute and terrorism is not profitable."
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