Dhe domestic disputes in Israel and the course of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are increasingly straining the country’s relationship with the United States. The government in Washington sharply criticized statements made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday evening. The leader of the Religious Zionism party, which is also responsible for the West Bank settlements, had said the Palestinian town of Huwara should be “erased” by Israel. State Department spokesman Ned Price called the statements “irresponsible,” “disgusting,” and “disgusting.”
Smotrich, meanwhile, released a “clarification”. He wrote on Twitter that he didn’t want to wipe out Huwara, but “just target the terrorists and supporters of terrorism there”. A high price must be demanded of these so that the “residents of the area” can live in safety again. By the residents, Smotrich apparently meant the residents of surrounding settlements. Two settlers were shot dead in Huwara on Sunday. As a result, around 400 settlers attacked the town and set fire to cars and houses.
Netanyahu also published a clarification on his own statements on Thursday. In a statement, his office denied that the prime minister equated the incidents in Huwara with protests against his government’s judicial reforms on Wednesday. All he said was that “it is forbidden everywhere to take the law into your own hands,” the statement said. In a speech to the nation on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu called “violence”, “attacks on police officers”, “freeway blockades” and “threats against public figures and their families” in the same breath as intolerable.
The opposition then sharply criticized him. During the demonstrations on Wednesday, there were clashes with the police in several places for the first time. In the evening, police forces had to escort Netanyahu’s wife Sara out of a hair salon in Tel Aviv. Demonstrators blocked it for several hours. Netanyahu then wrote on Facebook that the “anarchy” had to stop. “This can result in people losing their lives.”