The Palestinian people “does not exist”, it would indeed be “a fiction” devised a century ago in an “anti-Zionist” key: the word of Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the nationalist party “Religious Zionism” and Israeli Finance Minister, who during a conference in Paris launched the provocation.
“Do you know who is Palestinian – he asked the audience – I am Palestinian. My grandmother, born in Metulla over 100 years ago into a pioneer family that created settlements in the Galilee, she was Palestinian. My grandfather, who was the thirteenth generation of her family in Jerusalem, was a true Palestinian. This is the truth, and it must be heard at the Elysée and also at the White House.”
Just in early March, following a terrorist attack in Israel, he had hoped that an entire village in the West Bank would be destroyed. “I think Huwara should be canceled – he said – but I think it is the duty of the State of Israel to do so, and not of private citizens”.
Words then retracted, after harsh criticism from the United States. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtaeyeh expressed indignation at Smotrich’s new statements which “are conclusive proof of how extremist and racist the ideology of the current Israeli government is”.
