Board ‘utterly condemns’ Israeli minister’s call for ‘wipe out’ of Palestinian village

The Board of Deputies have issued a statement condemning senior Israeli Minister Betzalel Smotrich over his call for a Palestinian village to be “wiped out”.

Finance Minister Smotrich was asked why he had liked a tweet on Sunday in which the Deputy Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Davidi Ben Zion, called on the town of Huwara to be wiped out in response to a Palestinian terror terror attack that left two Israeli brothers killed.

Smotrich replied on Wednesday: “Because I think the village of Huwara should be wiped out.”

“I think the State of Israel should be the one to wipe it out, not, God forbid, private people,” he added.

In response the Board said: “We utterly condemn Betzalel Smotrich’s comments calling for the State of Israel to ‘erase’ a village which days ago was attacked by Israeli settlers.

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“We hope that this and similar comments will be publicly repudiated by responsible voices in the governing coalition.”

The statement came just days after Board chief executive Michael Weiger and president Marie van der Zyl had met with the Israeli Minister of the Diaspora, Amichai Chikli, in Jerusalem.

The meeting was described as “positive, full and frank.”

The Board said issues around proposed judicial reform, LGBT rights, the law of return, and progressive Judaism and the egalitarian space around the Kotel, were all raised with the Israeli minister.

Chikli has been amongst those in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government to back moves against Israeli’s supreme court and in March suggested the judicial system is “disease-ridden.”

As minister for social equality Chikli had condemned the LGBTQ flag suggesting it had become “the flag of a new nation-religion.”

Yachad were amongst the communal organisations to criticise the Board for meeting with Chikli at a time when mass pro-democracy demonstrations are taking place in Israel.

In a statement the group said: “Communal organisations cannot normalise this dangerous anti-democratic government.

“Meeting with Amichai Chikli is turning our backs on those on the streets fighting for Israel’s future.

“Minister Chikli has views known and it is clear he stands against LGBTQ people, reform Jews and Palestinians.

“Our communal representatives should not be engaging with someone who does not share any of our values.”