FILE-Bezalel Smotrich, Israels finance minister, greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, during a news conference to present a cost of living plan on Jan.
11. 2023. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images) TEL AVIV, Israel - A firebrand Israeli minister claimed there’s "no such thing" as a Palestinian people as Israel's new coalition government, its most hard-line ever, plowed ahead on Monday with a part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul — which would give the coalition control over who becomes a justice or a judge — before the parliament takes a monthlong holiday break next week.The development came a day after an Israeli and Palestinian delegation at a meeting in Egypt, mediated by Egyptian, Jordanian and U.S.
officials, pledged to take steps to lower tensions roiling the region ahead of a sensitive holiday season.It reflected the limited influence the Biden administration appears to have over Israel’s new far-right government and raised questions about attempts to lower tensions, both inside Israel and with the Palestinians, ahead of a sensitive holiday season.As the negotiators were issuing a joint communique, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich delivered a speech in Paris saying the notion of a Palestinian people was artificial."There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation.
There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language," he said in France late Sunday. He spoke at a lectern draped with what appeared to be an image showing the map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Jordan.Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said that Smotrich’s appearance with the icon was a "reckless.