Netanyahu calls comments to erase village ‘inappropriate’

By TIA GOLDENBERG
Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the remarks by a key Cabinet ally calling for a Palestinian village to be erased were inappropriate. In a Twitter thread posted in English shortly after midnight Sunday, Netanyahu did not appear to condemn the remarks outright and implied that the ally misspoke. Netanyahu thanked Smotrich for later walking the comments back and “making clear that his choice of words” was “inappropriate.” Netanyahu’s Twitter thread underlines how the Israeli leader has had to balance the ideologies of the far-right members of his government with the expectations of Israel’s chief ally, the United States.