Netanyahu calls comments by Israeli minister who called for destruction of Palestinian village ‘inappropriate’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted on Sunday a response to a top Israeli minister’s call to annihilate a Palestinian city, calling the statements “unfair”.

“It is important for all of us to tone down the rhetoric to bring down the temperature,” Netanyahu wrote in a Twitter thread in English. “This includes speaking forcefully against inappropriate statements and even correcting our own statements when we misspoke or when our words were taken out of context.”

Netanyahu did not directly name Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who singled out the town of Huwara after a Palestinian shot dead two Israelis in the village last week in the West Bank.

“The village of Huvara needs to be eradicated. I think the State of Israel needs to do it – no, God forbid, private person,” Smotrich said.

State Department reprimands Israeli minister who called for destruction of Palestinian village: ‘Disgusting’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted on Sunday a response to a top Israeli minister’s call to annihilate a Palestinian city, calling the statements “unfair”. (Pool Photo via Abeer Sultan/AP)

Smotrich later retracted his comments, saying that he did not mean to eradicate Huwara, but for Israel to surgically operate against Palestinian militants.

Netanyahu’s tweet did not condemn Smotrich, but rather implied that the minister had said the wrong thing. Netanyahu continued to denounce the “silence of the international community” amid attacks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

“It continues to turn a blind eye to the PA’s rampant provocation, the disgusting spectacle of handing out sweets to Palestinians to celebrate terrorist attacks against Jews, and the official PA pay-to-slay policy, in which PA terrorists are charged with murdering Jews.” “The international community’s silence in the face of Palestinian support for terrorism must finally end,” Netanyahu wrote.

Israel calls in army battalions as violence escalates in West Bank after killing of Israeli brothers

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich chose the town of Huwara after a Palestinian shot dead two Israelis from the village in the West Bank last week. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The State Department also condemned Smotrich’s comments last week, while also warning that both sides needed to be allowed to ease tensions after days of violence.

“These comments were irresponsible, they were disgusting, they were disgusting, and just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we also condemn these inflammatory comments that incite violence.” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in response to the comments.

Price called on Netanyahu “and other senior Israeli officials to publicly and categorically disavow and disavow these comments.”

Palestinian gunman shoots two Israeli brothers dead in West Bank

The State Department also condemned Smotrich’s comments last week, while also warning that both sides needed to be allowed to ease tensions after days of violence. (Kevin Lamarck/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Price touched on the violence that followed after the two Israelis were killed, to which hundreds of Israelis reacted by burning cars and houses.

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Price said, “We’ve seen a lot of violence, a lot of bloodshed.” “We strongly condemn and reject the terrorist attacks suffered by Israel in recent days.”

Fox News’ Peter Kasprowicz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.