Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel on Jan 8.JERUSALEM - An Israeli minister with responsibility for administrating the occupied West Bank drew condemnation on Monday after he said there was no Palestinian history or culture and no such thing as a Palestinian people.
Smotrich, who heads a religious-nationalist party in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right coalition, made the speech on the same day that Israeli and Palestinian officials met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for de-escalation talks ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday.
Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994, voiced outrage over the flag on stage beside him and said it had summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest. A statement by the Palestinian foreign ministry said that, by denying the existence of the Palestinian people and their legitimate national rights in their homeland, Israeli leaders "foster an environment that fuels Jewish extremism and terrorism against our people"."We utterly object to that kind of language," said John Kirby, US National Security Council spokesperson. "We don't want to see any rhetoric, any action or rhetoric ...