Israeli minister pushes ethnic cleansing, suggests Palestinians be expelled to Arab states

Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eli Cohen, has reiterated his government's push for Saudi Arabia to absorb Palestinians and create a state within its borders, dismissing any possibility of Palestinian sovereignty on their own land.

“Whoever wants to establish a Palestinian state in their country can do it in their country, we will not oppose it,” Cohen told Israeli Army Radio. “There are Arab countries with vast territories and it is possible to establish a Palestinian state there.”

His remarks echoed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Thursday, when he responded to a journalist’s slip of the tongue on Israel’s Channel 14, saying: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

These comments sparked immediate backlash from Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, who denounced Israel’s continued attempts to erase Palestinian claims to their homeland.