US State Department spokesman Ned Price has slammed Israeli Knesset Member Itamar Ben Gvir for attending the annual memorial of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Middle East Monitor reported.

The American-born ultra-nationalist Israeli politician openly advocated expelling all Palestinians from historic Palestine between the river and the sea.

Kahane founded the Kach party which was later outlawed. He inspired the likes of Rabbi Baruch Goldstein who, in 1994, killed 29 Muslim worshippers at the Israeli-occupied Ibrahimi Mosque and wounded more than 125.

A former member of the Kach movement, Ben Gvir and the coalition of ultranationalist parties have emerged as the main power broker in Israel following last week’s election, winning 14 seats. The 46-year-old is expected to also be given an important ministerial position.

Denouncing Ben Gvir’s attendance at the annual Kahane memorial, Price said: “Celebrating the legacy of a terrorist organization is abhorrent. We are concerned by the use of Kahana’s legacy and rhetoric by extremist and violent right-wing activists.”​

“There is no other word for it – it is abhorrent. And we remain concerned, as we’ve said before, by the legacy of Kahane Chai and the continued use of rhetoric among violent right-wing extremists.”

(MEMO, PC, SOCIAL)