Deputy FM asserts historical right to West Bank

Israel’s deputy defense minister, who in the absence of a minister is the country’s de facto top diplomat, says that Israeli officials shouldn’t mince words in stating to their foreign counterparts that the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people.

In an unapologetic incoming speech to Foreign Ministry employees, Tzipi Hotovely says that “the time has come to tell the world that we’re right – not only smart.”

“We must return to the basic truth about our right to the land,” says Hotovely, who favors the annexation of the West Bank over the establishment of a Palestinian state. “We didn’t come here to apologize for that.

“Of course the world understands Israel’s security needs, but arguments of ethics and justice will trump security arguments,” she says, urging Israeli diplomats throughout the world to reiterate the Jewish people’s right to the entire land.

During her speech, Hotovely cites the medieval biblical commentator Rashi, who wrote that the Bible related the story of the birth of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, and its emergence from Egypt, in order to shore up its claim to the land.

According to Haaretz, diplomats are shocked at the speech, and many of them “raised an eyebrow” over the reference to a Jewish biblical right to the land.

“It’s the first time anyone has asked us to use verses from the Torah for hasbara abroad,” one diplomat is quoted as saying.