Ariel Zilber
CNN anchor Jake Tapper condemned what he called the “outrageous” and “racist” statements by a “far right extremist” Israeli cabinet minister who recently said that Palestinians living in Gaza are “Nazis who want to destroy us when they get up every morning.”
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and a member of the Religious Zionist Party, appeared on Israeli TV and urged his own government to re-establish Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
“The Jewish settlement should be established in the territory of the Gaza Strip so that there will be Jewish presence there for a long time, so that terrorism does not grow there,” Smotrich said in the clip, which was played by Tapper during Monday’s episode of CNN’s “The Lead.”
“If not, there are two million Nazis in Gaza who want to destroy us when they get up every morning, and we will wake up in 10 or 15 years to a new October 7th,” the minister said in the clip.
The comments prompted criticism from Tapper, whose comments were reported by Mediaite.
“Two million is, of course, the population of Gaza,” Tapper said. “So, take that in for a moment. Two million, quote, unquote, ‘Nazis’ in Gaza? Babies, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, old ladies, all of them Nazis?”
The Post has sought comment from Smotrich and the Israeli government.
Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of its victory in the 1967 Six Day War. In the aftermath of the war, Israel built Jewish settlements in these areas, which are considered by the international community to be part of a future Palestinian state.
In 2005, Israel removed its soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip. Two years later, Hamas overthrew the local government ruled by the rival Fatah faction and took control of the area.
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists staged a cross-border assault on Israeli towns and villages near the frontier with Gaza — killing nearly 1,200 soldiers and civilians.
In response, Israel has undertaken a ground invasion and aerial bombardment campaign against Hamas targets in Gaza.
Palestinian officials in Gaza said that close to 23,000 people in the territory have died as a result of Israeli military operations.
Israel has claimed that more than 8,000 of those killed were terrorists affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is scheduled to meet with Israeli officials in Israel on Tuesday, had already said he would raise the “absolute imperative” to do more to protect Gaza’s civilians and let humanitarian aid reach them.
His boss, President Biden, said overnight that Washington was quietly pushing Israel to withdraw some forces.
After weeks of US pressure to ease its assault, Israel says it is moving from full-blown to more targeted warfare in northern Gaza, while maintaining intensive combat in southern areas.
It said its troops had killed around 40 Palestinian terrorists and raided a militant compound and tunnels since Monday in Khan Younis, the main city in the south.
After a week of comparatively low Israeli losses, Israel said nine of its soldiers had been killed, mostly from engineering units tackling tunnels, in one of their deadliest days of the ground assault.
With Post wires
This post was originally posted by New York Post
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