US slams Israeli minister’s ‘inflammatory comments’ about Palestinians, condemns ‘all racist rhetoric’

DUBAI: The US State Department has strongly condemned Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for what it described as “inflammatory comments” he made about Palestinians, and said that it denounces “all racist rhetoric.”

Ben-Gvir said during an interview on Israeli TV on Wednesday that his rights in the occupied West Bank are more important than those of Palestinians. His comments sparked a storm of protest online as video clips of his comments spread on social media, the BBC reported on Friday.

“My right, my wife’s, my children’s, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs,” he told Arab-Israeli journalist Mohammed Magadli during a studio interview.

“Sorry, Mohammed, but this is the reality, that’s the truth. My right for life comes before their right to movement.”