The United States has criticized recent statements from two Israeli Ministers calling for resettling Palestinians out of Gaza.
In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said it rejects the controversial remarks from Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Smotrich, a far-right politician and a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who opposes Palestinian statehood, said on Sunday that Israel should take the initiative to send the majority of the more than 2 million Gazans to Europe.
Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who has faced charges of hate speech against Arabs, favored the idea. In his opinion, such a move would allow Israel to rebuild Jewish settlements in the thickly populated Palestinian enclave.
State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said, “This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible”, and “should stop immediately.”
He said the Government of Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has told Washington “repeatedly and consistently” that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government.
Miller insisted that the U.S. Government’s stand in this issue is “clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel.”
“That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world,” he added.
It marks the strongest public condemnation of Israel by the Biden administration since the ongoing war erupted on October 7. The Biden administration has been consistent in its stand in favor of a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis.
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