From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
In stormy meeting, Netanyahu, Gallant clash with Ben Gvir over settler violence
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Senior ministers and security officials clash with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in a stormy meeting over settler violence, Hebrew media report.
In quotes from the closed-door meeting widely leaked to the press, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the heads of the IDF and Shin Bet are said to have chided Ben Gvir for giving tacit backing to the recent settler attacks.
Meanwhile, Ben Gvir accused the other participants of hypocrisy and blowing the issue out of proportion, calling the settler vigilantes “sweet boys.”
According to the reports, Netanyahu told Ben Gvir the raids on Palestinian villages were eroding Israel’s international legitimacy.
Gallant accused Ben Gvir and other members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party of paying “lip service” to law and order and called on them to publicly condemn the rampages that came after four Israelis were killed in a terror attack.
Ben Gvir meanwhile slammed Gallant for a conversation today with a senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh, calling it “a conversation apologizing to a terrorist.”
“A convicted terrorist who sat for 10 years in jail and we are calling to soothe him,” Ben Gvir said.
Gallant retorted that “we can’t behave like the enemy.”
The Times of Israel Community.