News site Axios reported on Thursday evening that the United States has approved the request of far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for a diplomatic visa ahead of his trip to Washington on Sunday.
The approval comes after Smotrich backtracked his statement last week calling to “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Huwara of nearly 7,000 residents. Following a week of outrage at his comments and worldwide condemnations, Smotrich published on his Facebook page a long post, retracting his statement on Wednesday.
Smotrich, who is the finance minister and also a minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank, explained that he did some “soul searching” and it was comments by a close friend of his, a senior reserve pilot in the Israel Defense Forces, that made him change his mind.
According to the post, the pilot told Smotrich that his statement on Huwara was interpreted by fellow Israeli army pilots as a call for them to bomb and destroy the Palestinian village. Smotrich claimed that when calling to wipe out the village, he only called to destroy some of the houses alongside the main road as deterrence against more terror attacks. He did not intend, he wrote, to call for or imply people should be harmed.
“I can no longer resolve myself in blaming others. I’m required for a soul check,” Smotrich wrote in Hebrew. “I really did not think that someone serious was able to understand from my words a call for indiscriminately killing of women and children in the village,” he added.
Last month, following the killing two Israeli brothers driving through Huwara, and a rampage by settlers in the village, burning to the ground 35 houses, Smotrich said he agreed with a tweet calling to “wipe out” Huwara.
“Because I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it,” Smotrich said at the time.
After his statement, several American Jewish organizations demanded that Smotrich not be given an entry visa to the United States. US senior officials said at the time that Smotrich will not be received by his American counterparts while in Washington.
Speaking at an Al-Monitor event shortly after the publication of the post by Smotrich, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said, “We saw the minister walk that back … that’s as it should be.”
On his visit, Smotrich is expected to participate in an event of the US-based Israel Bonds group taking place March 12-14. The Israeli official is expected to arrive in Paris at the end of March for a memorial event for a French Likud party member. A French Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that they were not informed officially about Smotrich’s visit, but if such a visit takes place they will have no contact with him.
The United States Department of State has approved the visa of Bezalel Shlomo Smotrich, a right-wing Israeli politician and member of Knesset. This decision arrives after backtracking his comments that he would like to “wipe out” the Palestinian people.
In June 2019, Smotrich made headlines worldwide when he proposed that Israel should take “action” against Palestinians and “wipe them out.” The politician remarked that he found it hard to understand why Palestinians have any “rights in the Land of Israel.”
Smotrich’s comments sparked a wave of criticism in Israel and the international community. Following these statements, the United States denied his visa application, citing his “inflammatory rhetoric.”
However, the US Government has now approved the visa of Smotrich after the politician retracted his earlier comments and apologized publicly. Smotrich has been allowed travel to the United States only for the next 10 days.
The visa approval was welcomed by Smotrich’s legal team, who has stated that he has been “vindicated.” Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, also welcomed the decision and praised the US for showing leniency.
It will be interesting to observe how this matter develops in the coming weeks. Will Smotrich face further criticism or will he be welcomed to the US without a hitch?
