JAKARTA - United States officials consider Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call for a Palestinian village to be abolished, as incitement to violence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should publicly deny it.
Smotrich, an ultranationalist in the PM's right-wing coalition, made the comments at a conference on Wednesday amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks, as well as Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
When asked about the weekend settler rampage in the Palestinian village of Huwara, which was described by an Israeli general on Tuesday as a "pogrom," Smotrich said: "I think Huwara needs to be removed."
"I think the state of Israel needs to do it, but God doesn't forbid individuals," he added.
In that regard, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Smotrich's comments were "irresponsible. They are unacceptable. They are abhorrent."
"And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we also condemn provocative statements that are incitement to violence," Price said.
Earlier, Israeli police had arrested 10 people for their alleged involvement in the attack in Huwara that killed a Palestinian.
The violence occurred after a Palestinian gun attack killed two Israelis.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and arrested six others, suspected of involvement in the fatal shooting of an American in the West Bank on Monday.
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After making comments about Huwara, Smotrich issued a statement saying the media had misinterpreted them, without recanting his call for the village to be removed.
"I'm talking about how Huwara is a hostile village, which has become a terrorist outpost" where attacks on Jews are carried out on a daily basis, Smotrich said, adding that vigilantism is prohibited.
"I support the disproportionate response by the (Israeli military) and security forces to any act of terrorism, including the deportation of the families of the terrorists," Smotrich added.
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