Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday disavowed the slogan “Death to Arabs” after being photographed next to the graffitied phrase during a tour of the northern West Bank, in which he vowed to rebuild the settlement of Sa-Nur that was evacuated decades ago.
Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry, was photographed next to the slogan as he visited the site to mark 20 years since it and the nearby settlement Homesh were dismantled as part of Israel’s 2005 Disengagement Plan. The plan also saw Israel evacuate the Gaza Strip’s Gush Katif settlement bloc, which Smotrich has called on Israel to rebuild as well amid the war in Gaza.
Following online criticism of the photograph, Smotrich’s office said in a statement that the offending phrase was noticed only “after the photo was distributed, and of course we completely disavow it.”
Smotrich’s office said the media shouldn’t be concerned by “stupid graffiti that no one noticed,” but by the minister’s drive to “reverse the expulsion from northern Samaria and resettle Sa-Nur.”
The photograph was included in a press release by the Samaria Regional Council, which oversees settlers’ municipal affairs in the northern West Bank. Council head Yossi Dagan, who also appeared in the photo, later sent out a second press release with the “Death to Arabs” graffiti cropped out of the picture, without apologizing for the phrase or explaining the reason for the edit.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slammed Smotrich on X: “Aside from the moral issue, what in God’s name does the government expect us to say to the world when a photo is published of a senior minister smiling next to the inscription ‘Death to Arabs’?”
Smotrich’s appearance next to the slogan — a fixture of some right-wing gatherings — came as settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have taken place on a near-daily basis, largely with impunity, sparking mounting sanctions from Western governments.
Visiting the former area of Sa-Nur with families who said they were preparing to move there, Smotrich, referring to the 2005 Disengagement, said: “We are correcting the mistake of the expulsion.”
“Even back then, we knew that… we would one day return to all the places we were driven out of,” said Smotrich. “That applies to Gaza, and it’s even more true here.”
The Palestinian Authority issued a strong condemnation of Smotrich’s visit, saying it was part of “plans to entrench the gradual annexation of the West Bank, posing a direct threat to the possibility of implementing the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a statement, the PA foreign ministry said the push “to revive settlements that were evacuated 20 years ago” would lead to further confiscation of Palestinian lands.
Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in May that Israel had approved the construction of 22 new West Bank settlements, including Sa-Nur and Homesh.
Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, said some of the 22 settlements the government announced as new had already existed on the ground.
Some are neighborhoods that were upgraded to independent settlements, and others are unrecognized outposts given formal status under Israeli law, according to Peace Now.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since the Six Day War of June 1967, are considered illegal by most of the international community, with the exception of the United States.
Settlements in the West Bank are seen as impeding the establishment of a Palestinian state there, in the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as part of the two-state solution.
Smotrich and others in Israel’s right wing have rejected Palestinian statehood and called for Israel to annex the West Bank, which is home to an estimated three million Palestinians and 500,000 settlers.