Far-Right Israeli Minister Pictured Next to 'Death to Arabs' Slogan in Illegal West Bank Settlement
Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posed near a slogan that called for "Death to Arabs" while visiting an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
Images from Thursday's visit showed Smotrich standing near a wall bearing the slogans: "The people of Israel return to Sa-Nur!" and "Death to Arabs."
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Smotrich had told settlers who accompanied him on the visit to the Sa-Nur settlement that Israeli settlers will "return to the places we evacuated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip".
The Israeli occupation government recognised the Sa-Nur settlement as one of four that would be placed under the control of the Shomron Regional Council.
Sa-Nur, Kadim, Ganim and Homesh were evacuated unilaterally by Israel in 2005, without coordination with the Palestinian Authority, during Israel's so-called "disengagement" from Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank.
In May, Israel's occupation government approved the construction of 22 new settlements in the West Bank, including the legalisation of nine unauthorised outposts.
The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said the new settlements would “dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further”.
“The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal,” it said in a statement.
Smotrich also said, referring to the 2005 Disengagement, said: “We are correcting the mistake of the expulsion.”
Smotrich’s appearance next to the slogan came amid near-daily settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has escalated since the start of the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, prompting increasing sanctions from Western governments.
Several countries have and will formally sanction far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for “incitement of violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The pair – who live in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – have been key proponents of the annihilation and expulsion of Palestinians, expansion of illegal settlements and annexation of Palestinian lands, in their time as ministers within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have regularly called for the permanent conquest of Gaza and the re-establishment of the Jewish settlements there, which Israel abandoned in 2005.
Israel has built more than 100 settlements across the occupied West Bank that are home to some 500,000 settlers. These settlements are illegal under international law.
