The US has criticized Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, for saying that his rights in the occupied West Bank are more significant than the rights of Palestinians.
The state department said it strongly disapproved of the hurtful words and any racist talk.
His comments on Israeli television caused a lot of negative feedback on the internet.
Mr Ben Gvir said that the news coverage was not true and criticized the radical left for misrepresenting his words.
On the platform called X (previously known as Twitter), Mr. Ben Gvir criticized Bella Hadid for sharing a video of his remarks. He called her an “Israel hater” and accused her of making him appear racist and negative.
Ms Hadid shared the video on Instagram, and she has 60 million people who follow her there. She wrote a comment with the video saying that no life should be considered more important than another, no matter where or when.
MrBen Gvir is the leader of the ultra nationalist party called “Jewish Power,” and they support racist and anti-Arab policies. He has been found guilty in the past for encouraging racism and backing terrorism.
In December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made him a high-ranking official. He was given a position in the security cabinet and put in charge of the police within Israel and its border police force operating in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
On Wednesday, there was a lot of violence where Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis in different attacks. One attack happened near the city of Hebron in the West Bank, where Mr. Ben Gvir lives in a Jewish settlement.
This caused more limitations on the movement of many Palestinians as Israeli forces looked for the armed individuals.
Ben Gvir believes that my right, my wife’s right, and my children’s right to freely travel on the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the Arab’s right to move around. He used a biblical term for the West Bank to refer to the area.
He then spoke to Mohammad Magadli, a journalist from Israel who is Arab, in the studio. He said, “I’m sorry Mohammad, but what I just said is the real situation and it’s the truth. ” My life is more important than their ability to move.
A video of people’s comments became very popular on the internet and caused a negative response, including from Palestinians and Israeli politicians who disagree with the government.
The leaders of the Palestinian Authority strongly criticized the racist and terrible comments made by Israel’s minister Itamar Ben Gvir. They believe that these remarks confirm Israel’s unfair system of favoring Jewish people and promote fear among Palestinians.
It requested that Mr. Ben Gvir and other Israeli officials be punished and responsible for their actions.
Karine Elharrar, a member of the Yesh Atid party who disagrees with the government, called the minister a true representative of a very racist and extremist government that we have never had before.
MrBen Gvir has a background in Kahanism, which is a very racist movement that supports removing Palestinians from their homes forcefully.
An American spokesperson from the US state department said they strongly disagree with Israeli minister Ben Gvir’s hurtful comments about how Palestinian people can move around in the West Bank.
“We strongly denounce all racist speech. It is especially harmful when powerful people spread such messages, and it goes against the goal of promoting respect for the rights of every person. ”
On Friday, the EU criticized Mr. Ben Gvir’s comments and expressed disapproval. They emphasized that democracy and human rights are very important in the partnership between the EU and Israel, especially when it comes to the people living under occupation in Palestinian territory.
Palestinians in the West Bank currently face strict limitations on their ability to move around freely. They are unable to travel to Jerusalem or their family’s lands in Israel unless they have special permits. The Israeli government says they do this to make sure everyone stays safe.
Political parties that speak for Arab Israelis, who are Palestinian citizens of Israel, along with Israeli groups against the occupation, criticized Mr. However, they acknowledged that he was just expressing well-established facts in the West Bank.
In response to the statement from the US state department, Ahmed Tibi, an Arab Israeli MP, said that Ben Gvir, who was described as an important minister in Israel, supports the broad and overall Israeli policy that has been in place since 1967. Why are you crying about the description of a racist apartheid reality instead of acknowledging the actual reality.
B’tselem, an organization in Israel, helps Palestinians living under the control of the Israeli military. They said, “This is what we see happening every day for fifty years now. ” The rights of the Jews are seen as more important than the rights of the Arabs, and this is similar to how apartheid works.
MrBen Gvir blamed the “Israeli radical left” for misquoting him and accused them of selectively choosing his comments. This statement was posted online in English, possibly as a response to the global reaction to his remarks.
He explained that fake news spreads by twisting words. He mentioned that in a TV show, he expressed the belief that the safety of Jewish people is more important than the ease of travel for Arabs in Judea and Samaria. That’s why it’s important to have checkpoints on roads where Jewish people are often targeted by terrorists and jihadists who shoot at them.
“He said that this is exactly how the Left continues to provoke and encourage negativity towards the Israeli government worldwide. ”
After the attack on Monday, Israeli forces started putting up checkpoints at the entrances and exits of Hebron. They were talking to Palestinians and looking for the people who killed Batsheva Nigri. She was a 40-year-old nursery teacher and a mother of three who lived in a nearby settlement.
On that day, an Israeli soldier shot a Palestinian man in the head and he was badly hurt. It happened in a village close to Nablus. A video showed him without a weapon, running towards someone who was hurt. Then, he got hit by one shot.
Last week, a 15-year-old boy from Palestine was shot in the head by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and he is now in serious condition. The police claimed that he tried to throw a homemade explosive at them while they were conducting a search.
On the same day, a video showed that Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian man. The man was not carrying any weapons and is reported to have mental health issues. The incident took place during a protest near the separation barrier in Qalqilya, Israel.