US approves Smotrich visa despite widespread protest

Jewish organisations were among those asking the administration to refuse the visa after the Finance Minister’s call to “wipe out” Huwara.

The US State Department approved the request of the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for a "diplomatic visa" ahead of his trip to Washington next week.

The Biden administration faced pressure from several Jewish organizations and other groups in the U.S. to deny Smotrich's visa request over his call for the Israeli government to "wipe out" the Palestinian village of Hawara.

Smotrich said in a tweet on Saturday that he didn't mean to call for harming innocent civilians. "People sometimes use harsh words they don't mean in order to pass a message. It happens to everyone," he said. He also issued an apology on Wednesday.

Smotrich’s plan to speak at an investment conference in Washington DC has drawn unusually strong criticism, including accusations that he is promoting “Jewish supremacy”, from individuals and groups that are more usually ardent defenders of Israel.

More than 100 Jewish American leaders signed a statement opposing the visit by the leader of the Religious Zionism party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government. It said they “reject the notion that someone must be accorded respect simply by dint of serving in the Israeli government”.

“We call on all pro-Israel Americans to understand that welcoming Smotrich here will harm, rather than help, support for Israel,” they said.“Smotrich has long expressed views that are abhorrent to the vast majority of American Jews, from anti-Arab racism to virulent homophobia, to a full-throated embrace of Jewish supremacy. To this list, we can now add his endorsement of violence against innocents based on their ethnic heritage.”