Far-right leader Smotrich: Palestinian town of Huwara should be ‘wiped out’

Israel’s Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich has called for the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank to be “wiped out”.

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

When asked why he liked the tweet, which was later deleted, Smotrich replied: “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.

The inflammatory remark came after hundreds of settlers burned down 75 houses and over 100 cars in Huwara on Sunday, an attack which was described as nothing short of a pogrom by the IDF.

Smotrich isn’t the only government official who has made highly controversial remarks regarding Huwara.

Far-right lawmaker from Jewish Power party, Limor Son Har-Melech, published a photo of herself at the entrance to Huwara on Sunday as the pogrom was ongoing, saying she came to support the “protests.”

Her colleague, Zvika Foighel from Jewish Power party, defended the attacks in Huwara, saying they had “achieved deterrence.”

“I want to see the place burning. Metaphorically speaking,” Foighel said. Lapid immediately called on Foighel to be jailed for incitement to terror.

On Wednesday, Israeli media reported that the attorney general launched an investigation into whether Foighel incited to terror.