Major American Jewish organisations say they will boycott Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich during his overnight Sunday visit to Washington, underlining the divide between some of Israel’s staunchest allies in the US and far-right officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Mr Smotrich, a longtime leader of Israel’s religious nationalists, is travelling to Washington for a conference organised by Israel Bonds, a US-based organisation that promotes the purchase of Israeli government securities. Israeli finance ministers have traditionally attended similar conferences to drum up investment interest.
Some American Jewish leaders have called for Israel Bonds to disinvite Mr Smotrich over his hard-right views on the Palestinians, LGBTI rights and more liberal streams of Judaism. They also singled out remarks Mr Smotrich made two weeks ago calling to “erase” a Palestinian town, Huwara, that was the site of an Israeli settler riot. The minister later said he only meant to express his support for targeted action against terrorists.
Other big American supporters of Israel are also shunning Mr Smotrich in an unusual rebuke of a senior Israeli political figure. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee — widely known by its acronym AIPAC and for its pro-Israeli government positions — has said it has no plans to meet with Mr Smotrich, nor do other, more centrist groups, such as the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations and the American Jewish Committee.
Read the article by Aaron Boxerman in The Australian.