US Condemns Ben Gvir’s ‘Inflammatory’ Palestinian Comments

US, and EU condemn Israeli minister Ben Gvir’s racist comments on Palestinians.
Ben Gvir said his rights in the occupied West Bank take precedence over those of Palestinians.
He was responding to a recent wave of Palestinian attacks.

The United States has expressed strong disapproval of Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, following his assertion that his rights in the occupied West Bank take precedence over those of Palestinians.

The US State Department has condemned these comments as “inflammatory” and criticized all forms of racist rhetoric.

After making these statements on Israeli television, Ben Gvir faced significant backlash on social media. He later labeled the media coverage as “fake news” and directed blame at the “radical left” for misrepresenting his words.

Using the platform previously known as Twitter, Ben Gvir directed harsh criticism towards Bella Hadid, a Palestinian-American model, after she shared a clip of his remarks. He labeled her an “Israel hater” and accused her of portraying him in a “racist and dark” manner.

Ms Hadid reposted the video on Instagram where she has 60 million followers, adding the comment: “In no place, no time… should one life be more valuable than another’s.”

Mr. Ben Gvir is at the helm of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, known as “Jewish Power,” which promotes prejudiced and anti-Arab ideologies. His track record includes convictions for inciting racism and endorsing terrorism.

In December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed him as a senior minister, granting him a position in the security cabinet. This role entails overseeing domestic law enforcement as well as Israel’s heavily militarized border police unit, which operates within occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Ben Gvir’s statements emerged during a period of escalating violence, during which Palestinian gunmen carried out three separate attacks resulting in the deaths of three Israelis. Notably, one of these incidents occurred near Hebron in the West Bank, the very area where Mr. Ben Gvir resides within a Jewish settlement.

This situation led to heightened constraints on the movement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, as Israeli forces initiated searches for the individuals responsible for the attacks.

“My right, my wife’s, my children’s, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs,” said Mr Ben Gvir, using a biblical term for the West Bank.

He then addressed Mohammad Magadli, an Arab Israeli journalist in the studio, saying: “Sorry Mohammad, but this is the reality, that’s the truth. My right to life comes before their right to movement.”

The video snippet containing these remarks quickly gained traction online, becoming viral and triggering a wave of criticism. This backlash was evident not only among Palestinians but also within the ranks of Israeli opposition figures.

The Palestinian Authority leadership condemned “in the strongest terms the racist and heinous remarks by Israel’s fascist minister Itamar Ben Gvir, which only confirms Israel’s apartheid regime of Jewish supremacy and racial terror against the Palestinian people”.

It called for Mr. Ben Gvir and other Israeli officials to be “sanctioned and held accountable”.

Karine Elharrar, an Israeli MP in the opposition Yesh Atid party, described the minister as “the authentic representative of the most racist, messianic, and Kahanist government we’ve ever had”.

Mr. Ben Gvir’s political roots can be traced back to Kahanism, a highly extremist movement characterized by its violent racism and advocacy for the displacement of Palestinians from their ancestral territories.

Pressed by Israeli journalists for a response, a US State Department spokesman on Thursday night said: “We strongly condemn Israeli minister Ben Gvir’s inflammatory comments on the freedom of movement of Palestinian residents in the West Bank.”

“We condemn all racist rhetoric; as such messages are particularly damaging when amplified by those in leadership positions and are incongruent with advancing respect for human rights for all.”

Later on Friday, the EU also “strongly condemned” Mr. Ben Gvir’s comments, saying “the values of democracy and respect for human rights stand central to the EU-Israel partnership, including as regards the people living under occupation in the Palestinian territory”.

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