The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that far-right Israeli ministers’ reactions to US President Joe Biden’s statement describing members of Israel’s coalition as extremists, underline the Israeli government’s anti-peace stance and its “desperate” attempts to undermine any opportunity to resolve the conflict.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Religious Zionism party head and pro-settlement advocate, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, slammed the US President after he said Israel’s coalition government had some “of the most extreme members he had ever seen”.
Biden added that the ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet who back settling “anywhere they want” in the West Bank are “part of the problem” in the conflict.
“Ben Gvir’s pride in what he represents in the Israeli government through refusing any settlement or removing any settlement outpost, is a further reassertion that he and his followers and allies are subversive elements that ignite fires in the conflict arena, as they fight any effort to achieve calm and restore the political horizon for resolving the conflict,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It held the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for “such racist and inciting positions” and their repercussions on escalation of the conflict, it said.
The Ministry warned against international dealings with Israeli “fascism” represented by Ben Gvir, Smotrich and their followers, and urged the world community to move from diagnosing the Israeli ruling coalition to actions, accountability and sanctions.
Source: Jordan News Agency