“We hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price Wednesday in a thinly veiled criticism of some leaders in the pro-Netanyahu bloc.
The British sounded a similar warning. “We would call on all Israeli parties to refrain from inflammatory language and demonstrate tolerance and respect for minority groups,” said a spokeswoman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
An Axios report on Wednesday said that the Biden administration was likely to boycott Ben Gvir, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism faction that won 14 seats, if he is appointed to a ministerial post as expected.
Ben Gvir is a self-described disciple of extremist rabbi and former MK Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was banned and declared a terror group in the 1980s in both Israel and the US. Like the late Kahane, Ben Gvir was convicted in the past of supporting a terror organization, though he insists he has become more moderate in recent years and does not hold the same beliefs as the Kach founder. READ MORE
