An Israeli minister responsible for administering the occupied West Bank sparked a wave of condemnation today after stating that there is no Palestinian history or culture and that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made these remarks yesterday during a speech at a conference while visiting France.
Smotrich had previously provoked international outrage earlier this month when he called for the "erasure" of a Palestinian town. A video clip widely circulated on social media shows him saying, "Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is no such thing as a Palestinian people."
During his speech, Smotrich stood in front of a platform adorned with what appeared to be a modified version of the Israeli flag, depicting an expanded Israeli state that includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and Jordan. A spokesperson for Smotrich, who leads one of the religious nationalist parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, clarified that the flag was placed as decoration by the conference organizers and that the minister was a guest.
Smotrich delivered his remarks on the same day that Israeli and Palestinian officials met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh to de-escalate tensions ahead of the upcoming month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover. In response, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned Smotrich's comments, calling them an incitement to violence. A separate statement from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry noted that Israeli leaders, through "the inflammatory statements and positions issued by more than one official in the Israeli government against the Palestinian people and their legitimate national rights in their homeland, confirm that these positions reflect a dark colonial mentality... and create an environment for the growth of Jewish extremism and terrorism against our people."
