According to an Israeli minister, there are no such things as Palestinians.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has claimed that there is no such thing as a Palestinian history or culture, and that the Palestinians are not a legitimate ethnic group. He made the remarks during a memorial event commemorating Jacques Kupfer, a prominent Zionist and activist with the right-wing Likud Party. Smotrich, a settler in the occupied West Bank himself, also claimed to be a real Palestinian, while describing his late grandfather as a "13th generation Jerusalemite" and a "true Palestinian." The remarks drew the ire of Palestinian officials, who condemned them as "racist" and "extremist." This is the second major controversy that the minister has ignited this month, after he called for "wiping out" the Palestinian town of Huwara, which saw riots by Israeli settlers following the shooting of two settlers by a Palestinian gunman. He later backtracked and stated that Israel should act in a targeted manner against terrorists and supporters of terrorism.