Joe Biden calls out ‘extremist’ elements within Israel government

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US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet included some of the “most extreme” members he had ever seen, accusing them of being “part of the problem” in the occupied West Bank.

Asked on CNN whether Netanyahu would be invited to the White House, Biden reiterated his longstanding support for Israel and said the Israeli leader was “trying to work out what we want in terms of their alliance”. how to work through their existing problems”.

He then said of Netanyahu’s administration: “This is the most hardline member of the cabinet I have seen.”

Biden’s unusually forthright comments come as Netanyahu’s government, in which ultranationalist residents such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezel Smotrich play a leading role, is pushing measures designed to boost settlements in the West Bank. Are. Palestinians consider the West Bank to be the heart of a future state, but Israel has occupied it since 1967.

“It’s not all of Israel’s problem anymore in the West Bank, but they are a part of the problem,” Biden told CNN.

“Especially what those members of the cabinet say. , , We can settle wherever we want, they have no right to stay here, etc.”

Biden said of Netanyahu: “We’re talking with him regularly, trying to narrow down what’s going on.”

The US President said that there were also “extremist elements” on the Palestinian side and accused the Palestinian Authority of “losing credibility”.

Ben-Gvir hit back at Biden’s comments, writing on Twitter that Biden “needs to realize that we no longer have a star on the American flag”.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. But since taking office in December, Netanyahu’s government has ramped up its expansion, pushing ahead with plans for 13,000 new housing units in existing settlements, nearly triple the amount approved last year.

The settlement-boosting measures come as violence has escalated in the West Bank, with the year set to be the deadliest in the region since the UN began collecting data in 2005. According to the United Nations, Israeli forces have killed 146 Palestinians in the territory so far this year, while Palestinians have killed 21 Israelis.

Last week, 12 Palestinians were killed in an attack by Israeli forces on a refugee camp in Jenin. Israel said the operation was needed to prevent terrorists from using the camp as a base to attack Israelis. But the raids raised fears that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is on the verge of escalation.

Settler attacks on Palestinians have also increased. Last month, after Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis near the settlement of Eli, hundreds of residents ransacked West Bank towns, setting buildings and cars on fire in what Israeli security officials labeled “nationalist terrorism”. Gave.

One of the attacks occurred in the Palestinian town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah, where more than 80 percent of the residents hold US citizenship. The US said at the time that it expected Israel to prosecute the perpetrators.