Zionist Union spokesperson sorry for anti-settler post

The spokesperson for the Zionist Union and its leader Isaac Herzog apologizes for a Facebook post in which he wrote that Jewish settlers “built houses at the expense of our friends’ blood. They built swimming pools at the expense of the blood of murdered children. They built cemeteries because they don’t care that others are buried.”

Herzog reprimands Newman for the post, since revised, in what the party leader described as a “harsh talk.”

“The post by Ofer Newman, my spokesperson, was very critical, very blunt, and very wrong, because it creates a generalization that I am unwilling to accept and uses imagery that we mustn’t use under any circumstances,” says Herzog. “I meet with settlers nearly every day; the Labor party encouraged and built part of the settlement enterprise, and even if we have criticism about the settler leadership, they are and always will be, our brothers and part of our extended family. We have profound, difficult ideological debate with the settler leadership and it will continue, but even in the middle of the debate, we will uphold their honor and do so respectfully.”

In a follow-up Facebook post, Newman says he watched a film about the settlements and wrote the post in an emotional outburst.

“I have fierce criticism about the settler leadership, but the language, the tone, and the imagery were entirely exaggerated and unnecessary,” he says.

“We are all human. We all make mistakes. This was my mistake,” he adds.