Itamar Ben-Gvir pushes back on US demand for 'accountability'

National Security Minister-designate MK Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) pushed back Tuesday morning, after the US State Department called for “accountability” following the accidental shooting of a Palestinian Arab teenager during a gun battle between IDF forces and Arab terrorists in the northern Samaria city of Jenin.

“The comments by the American government are distressing,” Ben-Gvir said.

“When hundreds of bullets were fired by terrorists at IDF soldiers and Border Police officers, we cannot judge our soldiers as if they are working in a laboratory situation.”

“Without a doubt, the teenage girl’s death is a tragedy, but there is also no doubt that any other army in the world would have completed the kind of operation we carried out in Jenin with dozens of hostiles killed, and not with measured, pinpoint operations.”

“I call on the residents of Jenin and the civilian population there not to leave their homes when terrorists are shooting at IDF soldiers. I give my backing to the IDF soldiers and Border Police officers. They have the right to defend themselves.” READ MORE