The Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Israeli Ambassador Eitan Surkis to protest the extremist behavior of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who spoke on a podium on which was a map of Israel with expanded borders that include the Kingdom of Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
The Foreign Ministry told Ambassador Surkis that the minister's behavior, during his participation in an event held yesterday in Paris, constituted a "reckless incitement act," and considered it a violation of international norms and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.
The ministry's spokesperson, Ambassador Sinan al-Majali, stated that the Israeli ambassador had been sent a strongly worded letter of protest to be conveyed immediately to his government.
The Ministry affirmed the Jordanian government's condemnation of the racist, inflammatory and extremist statements towards the brotherly Palestinian people, their right to exist, and their historical rights in their independent state.
The ministry's official spokesman reiterated that the ministry is taking all necessary political and legal measures to confront such extremist hateful actions and statements, and the dangerous escalation they represent that threatens security and stability and pushes towards escalation.
In its comment, the Israeli Foreign Ministry affirmed in a statement Israel's commitment to the peace agreement with Jordan, and its recognition of the integrity of all the territories of the Kingdom of Jordan, according to the statement.
Palestinian Condemnation
On the Palestinian side, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned Smotrich's remarks denying the existence of the Palestinian people and saying they had been invented in the last 100 years.
At the beginning of the weekly Palestinian cabinet meeting, Shtayyeh stressed that these statements are conclusive evidence of the extremist racist ideology that governs the parties of the current Israeli government.
Shtayyeh said the Israeli finance minister's remarks reflect "arrogance of power and arrogance, which do not shake our belonging to our land and history".
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that Smotrich's speech reveals the political doctrine of the Israeli entity, and the head of the movement's political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said that Smotrich's statements require conducting a strategic dialogue with Jordan to confront these dangerous trends.
Egyptian and European rejection
In the Arab reactions, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it rejects these irresponsible and inflammatory statements on Palestine, and the racist gestures they carry that deny the facts of history and geography, and fuel feelings of anger and tension among the Palestinian people and the world.
Internationally, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday called on the Israeli government to repudiate the finance minister's remarks, telling reporters in Brussels that Smotrich's comments "certainly cannot be condoned."
"I must condemn these unacceptable comments by Minister Smotrich. It's wrong, it's disrespectful, it's dangerous, and it's useless to say such things in a really tense situation."
שר האוצר בצלאל סמוטריץ’ בכנס לזכרו של ז’ק קופפר בפריז: "אין דבר כזה עם פלסטיני, אין היסטוריה פלסטינית, אין שפה פלסטינית, לא היה מלך או מטבע פלסטיני בהיסטוריה. אין"@GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/9fb38FvIjw
— Yanir Cozin – יניר קוזין (@yanircozin) March 20, 2023
Event in Paris
In his remarks, Smotrich denied the existence of the Palestinian people, saying that it was "an imaginary invention that was not more than 100 years old," after statements in which he called for the "erasure" of the town of Huwara in Nablus.
The head of the far-right "Religious Zionism" party – during his participation in an evening in the French capital Paris – "There is no such thing as the Palestinian people, it is an imaginary invention that has not exceeded 100 years old," according to the Israeli newspaper "The Jerusalem Post".
Benjamin Netanyahu's finance minister was invited to Paris for an evening in honour of Jacques Kopfer, a radical Zionist activist and former head of France's Likud party.