Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) on Monday urged the “targeted elimination” of senior Palestinian Authority officials, whom he described as “terrorists in every sense of the word.”
“Our dear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you need to announce that Abu Mazen has no immunity whatsoever,” Ben-Gvir said during a faction meeting, using P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas’s Arabic nickname.
“If they accelerate the recognition of this invented state, if the U.N. recognizes this thing, you, Mr. Prime Minister, must order targeted eliminations of senior officials of the Authority—terrorists in every sense of the word,” continued the right-wing Israeli politician.
“And you, Mr. Prime Minister, must order the arrest of Abu Mazen,” he said. Ben-Gvir added: “We have a cell ready for him in Ketziot Prison.”
Ben-Gvir spoke a day after a U.S.-backed statement called for a “pathway” for creating “Palestine” in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
“It must be said as plainly as possible: This people—this invented people called the Palestinian people—must not have a state ... the aspiration of those creating such a state is to erase the State of Israel,” said Ben-Gvir.
“Those who carried out the October 7 massacre are tied by unbreakable bonds to this concept of a Palestinian state. It is well known that the P.A. pays salaries to terrorists. ... Squares in Ramallah are named after arch-murderers. They deny the Holocaust; they educate for murdering Jews.”
Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials have vehemently opposed the recognition of “Palestine,” which Abbas has promoted in international forums in breach of agreements the Palestinians signed with Israel.
The P.A. also disburses monthly “salaries” to families of terrorists killed or captured while murdering Jews or trying to murder them. Earlier this year, Ramallah agreed to stop this funding, though most payments are continuing under the guise of “welfare support.”
Almost 1 billion shekels ($307 million) yearly goes toward Ramallah’s “pay for slay” policy, under which it disburses monthly “salaries” to terrorists and their families, legal proceedings established in 2024.
Abbas’s office on Monday night issued a statement saying it holds the Israeli government “fully responsible” for Ben-Gvir’s “inciting remarks.”
Abbas stated that he considered Ben-Gvir’s comments “an explicit call to harm the life of the leader of the Palestinian people and members of the leadership” and called on the United States to pressure Jerusalem to halt its “incitement campaign” against the P.A. leader and other officials.
Netanyahu on Nov. 13 criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for embracing Abbas, who turned 90 on Saturday and is in the 21st year of a four-year term, as a “prince of peace” in Paris.
Abbas visited France as “president of the State of Palestine” for the first time since Macron recognized Palestinian statehood two months ago.
“Abbas, who was feted right now in Paris, pays terrorists to kill Jews,” said Netanyahu. “The more Jews they kill, the more they get paid.”
Netanyahu added that during Abbas’s tenure, Ramallah has continued to name public squares after murderous terrorists and used school textbooks that call for the destruction of the only Jewish state.
