The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday called on Israel to investigate remarks made by Israel’s Economy and Trade Minister, which made claims about killing Palestinians.

Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right Jewish Home partner, commented to Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot following news of a Palestinian prisoner release that: “If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them.”

“I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life – and there’s no problem with that,” he went on to say.

The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that based on these confessions, “the Israeli government has to open a transparent and legal investigation into these remarks and allow Palestinian rights advocates to follow the investigation.”

The ministry urged Palestinian, Israeli and international rights organizations to take Bennet’s remarks seriously and hold him accountable.

On Tuesday, the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States strongly condemned the “racist” remarks and called for international action.

“It is extremely alarming that a public Israeli official at the ministerial level calls for murder and utters explicitly racist remarks without being held accountable.”

(Agencies via Ma’an – www.maannews.net)