Controversial 2013 misquoted comments allegedly made by newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett resurfaced on Monday via social media posts by supermodel, Bella Hadid and the Al Jazeera publication AJ+. The quotes by Bennett stem from a cabinet debate about releasing Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands.
In a recent Instagram story, Hadid told her 43 million followers that Bennett said: "I've killed lots of Arabs in my life, and there's no problem with that."
AJ+ similarly shared via Twitter that Bennett has "bragged about killing Palestinians."
Naftali Bennett has been sworn in as Israel’s prime minister. The far-right former settler leader addressed his new cabinet on Sunday night.Here’s five things to know about him: pic.twitter.com/kYlOGQWREO
— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 14, 2021
Bennett, in a Knesset briefing in 2015, clarified that he was inaccurately quoted by former Joint List party member Haneen Zoabi as saying that "I killed a lot of Arabs in my life" when what he actually said was that he had killed many terrorists in the context of his army service.
Bennett added at the time that "this is good – and it is a shame we didn't kill more terrorists."
At the time, Zoabi self-identified as Palestinian and considered the two-state solution to be unrealistic, as well as the description of Israel as a Jewish state to be racist.
When Bennett's comments were allegedly made, he faced criticism by many of his fellow MKs and leaders of various Israeli organizations. Former National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror reportedly responded that "this is not legal."
The general delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the United States also responded to Bennett's comments, saying that “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 post by Hadid is just one of many social media posts by the Palestinian model about recent Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Bella, along with her sister Gigi – children of Palestinian property tycoon Mohamed Hadid – have both been extremely vocal in the Free Palestine movement to their millions of Instagram followers. Hadid also attended a pro-Palestinian rally in Brooklyn wearing a keffiyah and waving the Palestinian flag.
Other celebrities have joined the Hadid sisters in their Palestinian activism, including singer Dua Lipa who is dating their brother Anwar.
Bennett, in turn, has been critical of Bella's interpretations of Israel's actions in Gaza, as well as those of American political commentators Trevor Noah and John Oliver.
He sarcastically described the trio in a May 20 YouTube video as "the great philosophers of our age."
Bennett proceeded to ask: "So Bella, John and Noah, help me out here: If a terror organization like Hamas called to murder your families and launched thousands of missiles at your children while they're hiding inside hospitals, schools and media offices, what would you do?"
Other media and political organizations have been critical of Bennett's rise to power and how it will impact the lives and rights of Palestinians.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that it is inaccurate to call Bennett's coalition a "government of change" when there has yet to be a significant change in paving the way for an independent Palestinian state with its capital as east Jerusalem.
Critics of the new prime minister will continue to monitor how he handles the aftermath of Israel's conflict with Gaza as well as any potential progress in improving Israeli-Palestinian relations.