The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in a statement the comments of the official, calling him a fascist for his racial and colonial policies. This strategy will cause a new escalation of violence in the occupied territories, the Ministry warned.

The Foreign Ministry said that the plan is part of Tel Aviv’s vision to “Judaize” the occupied East Jerusalem area on a large scale as part of its ethnic cleansing and deportation of Palestinian residents.

As Reshet Bet, Israel’s Arabic-language Public Broadcasting Corporation, reported on Monday, Ben Gvir urged the police to continue demolishing Palestinian homes during Ramadan. The Israeli authorities have historically refrained from anti-Palestinian measures during Ramadan to avoid a full-scale conflict in Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Ben Gvir is known for his rhetoric against Palestinians and Arabs and a strong supporter of the annexation of the West Bank. Before becoming a parliamentarian, he kept in his living room for years a photo of Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994. The minister has been indicted in the past more than 50 times and convicted eight times for riots, vandalism and incitement to racism.

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