Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked controversy after uploading a post to his X/Twitter account where he is seen posing next to graffiti that says, “Death to the Arabs.”
He later published a version of the photo to social media with the graffiti cropped out but did not apologize for the situation.
“What pains the media is not some foolish graffiti that no one pays attention to, but the fact that, thank God, we are leading a revolution in settlement and security in Judea and Samaria, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades,” the finance minister stated in the correction.
The Abraham Initiatives, an Israeli NGO, raised the issue with the attorney-general, demanding that MK Smotrich be reprimanded because of the post.
“Imagine a situation in which a European minister takes a picture next to a picture that says, ‘Death to the Jews,’ and publishes the picture,” the NGO argued.
“This is an unimaginable horror. A senior government minister and a council head smile next to a racist, inciting caption that calls for genocide. We must not let this pass,” it added.
Smotrich’s plan to send aid to Gaza
Earlier this week, Smotrich confirmed his plans to allocate funds toward humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza on Wednesday evening, stating that doing so was solely for “victory” in the war.
“I’m not interested in the Gazans,” he told The Jerusalem Post, stating he had been promoting the transfer of billions of additional shekels from the state budget for aid to the civilian population in Gaza.
“What interests me is victory and the complete destruction of Hamas,” Smotrich said.
“Right now, the funding is international, but if necessary, we’ll do it ourselves,” the finance minister explained regarding the humanitarian aid.
By funding aid efforts on its own, Israel could potentially carry on with Gaza operations for longer, amid international pressure.
Keshet Neev contributed to this report.