Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have ignited a right-wing firestorm by characterizing Judea and Samaria as the "West Bank" during a Tuesday night Fox News appearance – the identical phrasing that unleashed withering criticism when former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett uttered it three years ago.#
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat for a Fox News interview Tuesday night while visiting the United States.
Video: PM Netanyahu speaks with Fox News / Credit: Fox News
Netanyahu labeled Judea and Samaria the "West Bank" in English when pressed on settler violence in Judea and Samaria. "Well, first of all, I think it's much bloated. You know, when they are talking about it, they are talking about a handful of kids. We actually located. It's about 70 kids not from the West Bank. They are actually teenagers who come from broken homes and they do things like chopping down olive trees and sometimes they try to burn a home."
Notably, the right erupted in fury over Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's identical language in 2022, when he referred to Judea and Samaria as "the West Bank" during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Bennett had previously chaired the Yesha Council (the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea and Samaria), making the terminology shift particularly inflammatory.
"The time has come for all of us to internalize that day by day it becomes clearer that Bennett joined the Left not as a tactical step but in full adoption of the Left's policies and even terminology," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared at the time regarding Bennett.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir lambasted Bennett, stating, "It's unbelievable that the former CEO of the Yesha Council and current PM Naftali Bennett adopts the Palestinian narrative that believes in 'occupation.' This is another step on the road to a left-wing government after he promised ten degrees to the right."
As of this moment, Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have not addressed Netanyahu or his statement at all as of Wednesday morning
