An Israeli lawyer has called for the killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank if they refuse to live under Israeli rule or leave the territory, according to a BBC report published on Saturday.
Yehuda Shimon, speaking to the broadcaster at the Havat Gilad settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, defended attacks on Palestinian villages as acts of retaliation following the killing of an Israeli security guard during clashes in the village of Tal.
“I think now, after they killed one Israeli, we need to kill all the people in Tal and Sarra, even Jit and Farata,” he said, referring to several Palestinian villages.
Shimon, who works with an organisation representing Israelis accused of violence against Palestinians, also claimed that the life of one Jewish person was worth “10 million Palestinians.”
When a BBC reporter described the remark as racist, Shimon replied: “I know, but this is the truth, because God chose us.”
He rejected the international legal consensus that the West Bank is occupied territory, arguing that Jews have a biblical right to the land.
Shimon also criticised the Israeli government and military, accusing them of failing to use sufficient force against Palestinians.
“If we don’t wake up and drop them all from this area, from all areas of Israel, even Gaza too, they will come back,” he said.
He added that Palestinians had only two choices if they wished to remain alive: accept Israeli rule or leave for other Arab or Muslim countries.
“If you don’t want to make peace with us, and you don’t want to get out, I don’t have a choice: I must kill you, and I will kill you all,” he said.