He called for the erasure of a Palestinian village.. Washington discussed preventing an Israeli minister from entering the United States, and Netanyahu is trying to calm global anger

The statements of the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the erasure of the Palestinian village of Hawara are still interacting globally, as the United States considered not granting him an entry visa to its lands, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to contain the escalating global anger over it.

And the American “Axios” website quoted Israeli officials as saying that the US State Department held an internal discussion regarding the refusal to grant Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich an entry visa to the United States, but did not take a decision in this regard.

Axios added - quoting a senior Israeli official - that US State Department officials hinted to Israeli diplomats that they would be happy if the Minister of Finance decided to cancel his trip to the United States.

Axios also quoted an American official as saying that no American official would meet with the Israeli Finance Minister during his visit to the United States.

Netanyahu is trying to calm the anger

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried Sunday to ease global anger over a far-right member of his government's call to "erase" a troubled Palestinian village, describing the remarks as "inappropriate."

However, Netanyahu did not blame Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing foreign powers of underestimating acts of violence committed by Palestinians, as he claimed, such as the killing of two Israeli brothers in the village of Hawara on February 26, which sparked riots committed by settlers there.

Smotrich said last week that he was opposed to retaliatory violence, but believed that Israel should "erase Hawara".

The US State Department called the remarks "irresponsible", "abhorrent" and "disgusting" and said Netanyahu should reject and disavow them.

The UN human rights chief said Smotrich had made an "incomprehensible statement of incitement to violence".

And with Israeli media speculating that the US administration will ignore Smotrich when he visits Washington next week - which will complicate its relations with the Netanyahu government - the Israeli minister retracted his remarks, but did not offer an apology.

"The expression betrayed me out of annoyance," he told Channel 12 of Israeli television.

The Palestinians urged the US administration not to receive Smotrich, while Netanyahu said that he is responsible for Israeli diplomacy, and not ruling coalition partners such as Smotrich.

Netanyahu wrote a tweet - today, Sunday - in which he said, "It is important for all of us to work to soften the rhetoric and calm the atmosphere."

He thanked Smotrich for making it clear that his "choice of words ... was improper."

"I am still waiting for a condemnation from the Palestinian Authority for the killing of the Yaniv brothers," Netanyahu said.

He added, "Israel is waiting for the international community to insist that the Palestinian Authority condemn this attack. The international community has not only not done so, but has continued to turn a blind eye to the widespread incitement of the Palestinian Authority."

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said - via Twitter - last Thursday, "Just as we condemn the Palestinians' incitement to violence, we condemn Finance Minister Smotrich's provocative statements that also amount to incitement to violence. It is necessary for the Palestinians and Israelis to work together to restore calm."

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that at least 62 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, had been killed since the beginning of 2023. Israel said that 13 Israelis and Ukrainian tourists were killed in attacks by Palestinians during the same period.

Leaders from the Palestinian interior visit the town of Hawara

Today, Sunday, a leading delegation from the Palestinians of the interior (Arabs 48) visited the town of Hawara, in the northern West Bank, to learn about the effects of the Israeli settler attacks on it last week.

The delegation was represented by the Higher Follow-up Committee for the Arab Masses in Israel (the highest representative body for the Palestinians in Israel), Arab and Israeli left-wing deputies in the Knesset, and community and political leaders, including Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement (which Israel bans), and MPs Ahmed Tibi and Sami Abu Shehadeh.

During a field tour, the delegation was briefed on the effects of the settler attacks on Hawara, including the burning of homes and properties.

On February 26, Hawara witnessed unprecedented attacks by Israeli settlers, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian, the injury of dozens of others, and the burning and destruction of dozens of homes and cars, after two settlers were killed in a shooting near the town.

In a statement to the local G-Media agency, Sheikh Raed Salah said: "We came to tell our people in Hawara and all our Palestinian people that the occupier may demolish a house and burn and uproot olives, but it cannot destroy, burn or uproot the Palestinian right."

For his part, the head of the Hawara municipality, Mueen al-Damidi, told Anadolu Agency that the direct losses due to settler attacks are estimated at $18 million, without counting the losses of closing shops in the town for a period of 5 days.

The Palestinians in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, reopened their shops a week after they were closed by Israeli military orders, following attacks carried out by settlers on the town.