Law, Power, and Justice

But on Friday, Kirby offered some of the sharpest and angriest criticism ever directed at a member of the Israeli government by an American official. While discussing efforts to secure a deal for the release of the hostages held in Gaza, Kirby said that Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will be responsible for the deaths of the hostages, among them American citizens.
Smotrich, a far-right extremist with an incredibly low approval rating among Israelis, has been a vocal opponent of the ongoing hostage negotiations.