The Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Jordan condemned as “racist” a firebrand Israeli minister’s remarks denying the existence of the Palestinian people. Amman summoned Israel’s ambassador for a rebuke. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stirred controversy by saying: “There are no Palestinians, because there isn’t a Palestinian people.” Smotrich had already faced international rebuke in early March after calling for a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank to be “wiped out”.
