Netanyahu: Remarks to erase Palestinian town ‘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 town to be erased were inappropriate. Netanyahu posted a Twitter thread in English shortly after midnight that did not appear to condemn the remarks outright and implied that his ally had misspoken. Netanyahu in the post early Sunday thanked Smotrich for later walking the comments back and “making clear that his choice of words” was “inappropriate.” Netanyahu’s tweet 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.