Jerusalem (CNN) – Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over the weekend denied the existence of a Palestinian people or nation, prompting a rebuke from the United States just weeks after calling for the “wiping out” of a Palestinian city.
Smotrich, a Jewish nationalist, argued that the idea of Palestinian nationality was invented over the past century in response to the Zionist movement to found modern Israel.
“Who was the first Palestinian king? What language do the Palestinians speak? Was there ever a Palestinian currency? Is there a Palestinian history or culture? Nothing. There is no such thing with a Palestinian,” Smotrich said in a speech in Paris.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday contradicted the comments, saying they were doing nothing to calm tensions in the region.
“We firmly reject this type of language. And it is extremely unhelpful to try, once again, to de-escalate tensions and try to find a viable two-state solution for the future,” Kirby told Israel’s Channel 13. “We don’t want any See rhetoric, action, or rhetoric – frankly – that can get in the way of, or become an obstacle to, a viable two-state solution, and such language does.”
The Palestinian Authority presidency has criticized Smotrich’s comments as “racist” and called them “an attempt to distort history”.
In a statement, the PA claimed that the Palestinian people “exist on this land forever.”
Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist movement that rules Gaza and calls for the destruction of Israel, also called Smotrich’s comments racist and said they “clearly reflect the fascist policy of colonial settlement expansion and forced displacement of the Palestinian people on which the occupation state was founded , ” in reference to Israel.
Smotrich’s appearance in Paris also caused a diplomatic incident between Israel and Jordan. The podium he was standing on was covered with what appeared to be a variation of the Israeli flag showing a magnified map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank, Gaza and most of Jordan.
A spokesman for Smotrich said the flag used at the event he attended was a “set decoration” placed there by the conference organizers and the minister was only a guest, according to Portal.
Jordan called the Israeli ambassador to Amman in protest Monday, citing Smotrich’s use of the map.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “warned of the seriousness of the continuation of these extremist racist actions by the same minister who previously called for the annihilation of the Palestinian village of Huwara.” It added that Smotrich’s actions were in violation of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.
Israel’s foreign ministry tweeted in response that it was “committed to the 1994 peace agreement with Jordan,” adding that Israel recognized “the territorial integrity” of Jordan.
Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, also said he spoke to Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to reaffirm Israel’s commitment to Jordan’s territorial integrity and the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.
Smotrich’s comments came on the same day that Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to try to defuse tensions ahead of the Ramadan and Passover holidays. Among other agreements, the two sides pledged to “develop a mechanism to curb and counter violence, hate speech and inflammatory speech and action.”
The minister, who also has some powers over the Israeli entity that controls border crossings and permits for Palestinians, has a long history of denying the existence of a Palestinian nation and has previously made controversial statements on them, as well as other issues such as LGBTQ rights.
Earlier this month he made inflammatory comments saying the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara “must be wiped out” after two Israeli brothers were shot dead while driving through the town. As a result, Israeli settlers carried out revenge attacks in which one Palestinian died. Smotrich later apologized for the comments, saying they were made in a “storm of emotions”.
Additional reporting by Ibrahim Dahman in Gaza and Tatiana Arias and Amir Ahmed in Atlanta.