The US has condemned Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir for claiming his rights in the occupied West Bank are more important than those of Palestinians.
The state department said it strongly condemned the "inflammatory comments" and "all racist rhetoric".
His remarks on Israeli TV sparked a storm of criticism online.
Mr Ben Gvir has since called the coverage "fake news" and attacked the "radical left" for "misquoting" him.
On X, the platform previously known as Twitter, Mr Ben Gvir on Friday also launched a scathing attack on the Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid for reposting a clip of his comments, calling her an "Israel hater" who made him look "racist and dark".
Ms Hadid had reposted the video on Instagram where she has 60 million followers, adding the comment: "In no place, no time… should one life be more valuable than another's."
Mr Ben Gvir leads the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit or "Jewish Power" party which espouses racist, anti-Arab policies. He has previous convictions for inciting racism and supporting terrorism.
In December he was made a top minister by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who gave him a seat in his security cabinet and put him in charge of the domestic police, as well as Israel's militarised border police force that operates in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
It led to even further restrictions on movement for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as Israeli forces searched for the gunmen.
FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-66614459
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