‘Sounds an Awful Lot Like Ethnic Cleansing’: Jake Tapper Responds to Israeli Minister’s Call to ‘Erase’ Palestinian Town

Jake Tapper reacted to a call by Israel’s finance minister to “erase” the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank after two Israeli brothers were killed in the nearby settlement of Har Bracha on Sunday.

Those murders came days after Israeli forces raided a house in Nablus to apprehend three Palestinian militants, only to end up killing at least four unarmed civilians.

The brothers’ killings prompted outrage among Israeli settlers, who rampaged through Huwara and set fire to Palestinians’ homes.

Tapper addressed tensions between Israel and Palestine, as well as domestic unrest in Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul and weaken the country’s judiciary.

“Israel’s finance minister – he’s one of the two extremists in the cabinet – his name is Bezalel Smotrich,” Tapper began. “He today said the West Bank Palestinian town where two Israeli brothers were shot and killed on Sunday, where the Israelis rampaged, the settlers rampaged, he said it needs to be erased, that town.”

The host aired a clip of Smotrich speaking on Israel TV earlier in the day.

“I think Huwara needs to be erased,” the finance minister said. “I think that the state of Israel needs to do this, and God forbid not private people.”

“He’s saying that Israel needs to get rid of this Palestinian town,” Tapper responded before turning to reporter Hadas Gold in Tel Aviv. “That sounds an awful lot like ethnic cleansing. Has Netanyahu said anything about this?”

“Netanyahu has not directly addressed Smotrich’s statements,” Gold replied. “The former prime minister, now opposition leader Yair Lapid essentially called it an incitement to a war crime.”

She aired a clip of U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemning the comments as “irresponsible,” “repugnant,” and “disgusting.”

“Those remarks from Ned Price are some of the harshest remarks about an Israeli I think I’ve ever heard from the American government,” Gold added.

“Yeah, they’re shocking,” Tapper responded.