The US, EU condemn Ben Gvir's statements about the rights of Jews compared to the rights of Palestinians

US State Department brands national security minister’s remarks ‘inflammatory’. In a rare comment calling out the Otzma Yehudit party leader by name, a State Department spokesperson condemned the remarks as inflammatory and compared them to racist rhetoric dangerously amplified by senior officials.

In Europe, the European Union relaeased a statement about the same issue. It "strongly" condemned the statements of the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, in which he claimed that his and his family's right to movement in the West Bank "exceeds the right of the Arabs," as he described it.

And last Wednesday, the leader of the far-right "Jewish Power" party, Ben Gvir, said - in an interview with the Israeli Channel 12 -, "My right and the right of my wife and children to move on the roads of the West Bank is more important than the Arabs' right to freedom of movement."

Ben Gvir added, "This is the reality, this is the truth, my right to life precedes their right to freedom of movement."

According to data from the left-wing Israeli "Peace Now" movement, which rejects settlements, about half a million settlers live in 132 settlements and 146 outposts in the West Bank.

These data do not include settlers in 14 Israeli settlements built on occupied East Jerusalem lands.

Ben Gvir is seen as a phenomenon of the rise of the far-right in Israel, and his supporters chant "Death to the Arabs". He is also known for his extremist stances towards the Palestinians, and he is a resident of the "Kiryat Arba" settlement, which is built on the lands of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.