News 12 reported this evening (Friday) that a senior political official said that the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich From now on he is considered ‘persona non grata’, an undesirable personality among the American government. The same source clarified that this was valid even before Smotrich’s statement, according to which “the State of Israel should erase Hawara”.
The Arab world condemns Smotrich: “Irresponsible statements for someone holding an official position”
Smotrich called not to take the law into his own hands, but liked a tweet that called to “delete Hvara”
“If Smotrich was ‘persona non grata’ before this statement, now after the disgrace he uttered he is ‘persona non grata’ on steroids,” added the same senior political official, “no official American official will meet with Smotrich. After he said the things, the phone in the bureaus in Jerusalem didn’t stop ringing.”
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Neides also expressed himself in an unprecedented manner regarding Minister Smotrich: “I am really angry with him. he is stupid He has a flight to Washington, and if I could, I would throw him off the plane.” The US Embassy in Israel asked not to comment on the report.
Bezalel Smotritz (Photo: Yonatan Zindel, Flash 90)
The American attack comes after this week the US State Department strongly condemned the minister’s words. “The words of the finance minister who called for the erasure of the Palestinian village are irresponsible, repulsive and offensive,” the State Department said, “We call on Netanyahu and other senior officials in Israel to publicly condemn and disavow this statement “.
The statement that caused a stir was made by Smotrich at the FINANCE 2023 conference: “I think the State of Israel should do it, private individuals forbid.” When asked by the interviewer, Matan Khodorov, whether he did not stir up the spirits when he liked a tweet that happened to erase Hvara, the minister replied: “I tweeted and called for calming the spirits, and said that we should not be dragged into an anarchy where people take the law into their own hands.”