Steinitz dismisses settler violence: 'I would not call it Jewish terror'
"Let's not forget the overall situation. Every day there are such incidents on the Palestinian side."
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 27, 2019 11:28Israeli settlers kill Palestinian in the West Bank, January 27, 2019 (Reuters)
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz downplayed the danger of violence by Jewish settlers in comments made after a Palestinian was allegedly killed in the West Bank on Saturday."I would not call it Jewish terror," Steinitz said in an interview with Army Radio that aired Sunday morning. "Let's not forget the overall situation. Every day there are such incidents on the Palestinian side."Hamdi Taleb Na’san, 38, a father of four, was killed outside his village near the Adei Ad outpost in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank on Saturday. Earlier in the day, an Israeli hiker was attacked by three Palestinians and stabbed in the hand. The hiker managed to escape to the outpost.Steinitz also addressed the ongoing tension between Israel and Hamas, and the transfer of funds from Qatar to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza."If Israel wanted, it could stop everything and choke off Gaza entirely," Steinitz said. "Our policy is not to bring... a humanitarian crisis there."Hamas initially refused the Qatari money because of conditions Israel imposed on the transfer.Tovah Lazaroff and Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.