Israeli minister claims that “there is no such thing” as a Palestinian inviting US rebuke

• Just a few weeks prior, Smotrich had advocated for the “erasure” of a Palestinian population.
• In a speech in Paris, Smotrich said that there is no such thing as the Palestinian people.
• The comments were rejected on Monday by John Kirby.

The far-right finance minister of Israel, Bezalel Smotrich, declared over the weekend that there is no such thing as the Palestinian nation or people. Just a few weeks prior, Smotrich had advocated for the “erasure” of a Palestinian population.

Jewish nationalist Smotrich claimed that the creation of Palestinian nationalism in the previous century was sparked by the Zionist movement’s desire to establish modern-day Israel.

In a speech in Paris, Smotrich said that there is no such thing as the Palestinian people. He listed questions like, “Who was the first ruler of Palestine? What dialects do the Palestinians speak? Has Palestine ever had its own currency? Nothing.

The comments were rejected on Monday by John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, who asserted that they would not assist to ease tensions in the region.

“We totally reject that terminology, and it’s incredibly detrimental to continuing trying to defuse the situation and move towards a workable two-state solution,” Kirby stated in an interview with Israeli Channel 13. Simply noted, “We don’t want to see any hyperbole, any action or rhetoric that could constitute a barrier or hindrance to an effective two-state solution, and language like that does.”

The Palestinian Authority’s presidency criticized Smotrich’s remarks, calling them “racist” and “an attempt to rewrite history.”

In a statement, the PA asserted that the Palestinian people “have been on this territory forever.”

Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist movement that runs Gaza and calls for Israel’s destruction, also called Smotrich’s comments racist, saying they “clearly reflect the fascist policies of colonial settlement expansion and forced eviction of the Palestinian people, on which the occupation state was founded,” in reference to Israel.

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