Israeli Minister urges arrest of Mahmoud Abbas if UN backs Palestinian statehood
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Monday for the arrest of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the targeting of senior Palestinian Authority officials if the UN Security Council endorses a resolution supporting the creation of a Palestinian state.
Ben Gvir made the remarks in Jerusalem while addressing journalists, directly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urging him to take aggressive measures if the international body approves the initiative.
“If they accelerate the recognition of this fabricated state, if the UN recognizes it, you must order targeted killings of senior officials of the Palestinian Authority — terrorists in every sense — and order the arrest of Abu Mazen,”
he said, using Abbas’s widely known nickname.
The UN Security Council was expected to vote Monday evening in New York on a US-sponsored resolution supporting President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which envisions, at a later stage, the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.
The idea of Palestinian statehood is firmly rejected by Netanyahu’s government, particularly by its far-right members, who consider any recognition of Palestinian sovereignty a direct threat to Israel’s security.
Abbas, who recently appeared alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, has backed diplomatic efforts for statehood while denouncing Israel’s escalating actions in the occupied territories.
The vote at the UN comes amid heightened regional tensions and deep political divisions within Israel’s government over the future of the conflict.
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