Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over the weekend for walking back the comments he made several days ago – in which he called for the "wiping out" of a Palestinian village following a terrorist attack – and noted that this was "inappropriate."
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Smotrich said that his choice of words was "incorrect, it was a slip of the tongue amid a storm of emotions" following the deadly shooting. He added he never meant for his words to be taken literally.
Netanyahu posted his response in a Twitter thread early Sunday morning. "It is important for all of us to work to tone down the rhetoric," Netanyahu began, "That is why I want to thank Minister Bezalel Smotrich for making clear that his choice of words regarding the vigilante attacks on Hawara following the murder of the Yaniv brothers was inappropriate and that he is strongly opposed to intentionally harming innocent civilians."
In his following tweets, Netanyahu demanded that the international community call on the Palestinian Authority to condemn the attack on the Yaniv brothers. "It continues to turn a blind eye to the PA's rampant incitement, to the disgusting spectacle of Palestinians handing out sweets to celebrate terror attacks against Jews, and to the official PA pay-to-slay policy, in which the PA pays terrorists to murder Jews." He wrote that "the international community's silence in the face of Palestinian support for terrorism must finally come to an end."
Meanwhile, the Israel Policy Forum opposed this week a planned tour by Smotrich to the United States, saying that his visit "would be an affront to American Jewish values."
"As American Jews committed to Israel's future as a secure, Jewish, and democratic state; to a robust US-Israel relationship; and to Jewish peoplehood that fully encompasses Israeli and Diaspora Jewish communities, we are opposed to Bezalel Smotrich visiting the United States later this month in his capacity as Israel's finance minister, and we call on all pro-Israel Americans to understand that welcoming Smotrich here will harm, rather than help, support for Israel... We reject the notion that someone must be accorded respect simply by dint of serving in the Israeli government," the organization said in a statement.
Citing an unnamed US source, Channel 12 NEWS reported on Saturday that Washington was mulling denying Smotrich a visa. It is understood Smotrich was encouraged to call off the planned trip in order to save face. Earlier reports also said that American officials would be reluctant to meet Smotrich during his planned US tour. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, for instance, branded his comment on Hawara as "irresponsible, repugnant, and disgusting."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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