"It is important that he made it clear that he had no intention of harming innocent people,"
tweeted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tonight (between Saturday and Sunday) referring to the words of Finance Minister Bezal Smotrich who called for "erasing Hvara".
The prime minister also scolded the American ambassador in Israel.
Netanyahu reacts to the attack and clashes in Hawara: "Let the IDF complete the pursuit, don't take the law into your hands", February 26
These things come after it was published at the weekend in News 12 that the American ambassador to Israel Tom Neides attacked Smotrich in closed conversations and even called him "stupid" and that "he would have thrown him off the plane".
The embassy in Israel denied the allegations.
Smotrich is expected to leave on March 12 for a visit to the US, but Jewish organizations are pressuring the administration not to allow him to enter. However, it is estimated that the visit will take place as planned.
"It is important that Finance Minister Smotrich clarified that he had no intention of harming the innocent or collective punishment. I know his positions and they were reflected in his clarification. None of us are without mistakes, including foreign diplomats," Netanyahu tweeted.
Israel's policy is clear: fight aggressively against terrorists and supporters of terrorism, avoid harming innocents and collective punishment.
Until this moment, the Palestinian Authority has not condemned the murder of the two wonderful brothers, Yigal and Hillel Yaniv, and I regret that there are those in the international community who rushed to condemn Israel but have not yet demanded this necessary condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) March 4, 2023
"Israel's policy is clear: fight aggressively against terrorists and supporters of terrorism, avoid harming the innocent and collective punishment," Netanyahu added.
"Until this moment, the Palestinian Authority has not condemned the murder of the two wonderful brothers, Yigal and Hillel Yaniv, and I regret that there are those in the international community who rushed to condemn Israel but have not yet demanded this necessary condemnation from the Palestinian Authority."
Netanyahu did not like his words.
American Ambassador Tom Neides (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
As you may recall, yesterday France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement in which they expressed concern about the situation in Yosh.
All unilateral measures that threaten peace must be stopped, as well as the incitement to violence." The countries called on Israel to withdraw from the decision to build thousands more housing units in the Yash and to train nine outposts, as agreed last month in the cabinet.
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