The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States strongly condemns the racist and inciting remarks against Arabs and Palestinian prisoners made by Israel’s Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday.
In light of Israel’s decision last Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, Bennett commented to Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot “If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them.” Bennett proceeded by spewing more incitement: “I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there’s no problem with that.” Bennett’s calling for the murder of Palestinian captives is a blatant disregard to international law and the Third Geneva Convention, which delineates the protections entitled to prisoners by international law upon their capture. It is extremely alarming that a public Israeli official at the ministerial level calls for murder and utters explicitly racist remarks without being held accountable.
The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States calls on the international community and the US in particular to condemn Minister Bennett’s remarks against Palestinians.