Bayit Yehudi deputy minister Eli Ben-Dahan lashed out at US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday night, saying that he had given legitimacy to terror and was not worthy to serve as mediator to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The deputy religious services minister made the comments at the consecration of a new synagogue in the West Bank settlement of Etz Efraim. His remarks followed a suspected terror attack in Jerusalem on Thursday evening in which a two-year-old girl was wounded when her family's vehicle was pelted with stones.
"Earlier a girl in Jerusalem was hurt by stones from a terrorist," Channel 2 quoted Ben-Dahan as saying. "John Kerry, who warns us of an intifada does not understand the Middle East and he is not worthy to be a mediator when he goes back to his country. His words give legitimacy to this terrorism."
Ben-Dahan said that the synagogue being consecrated in a new neighborhood of the Etz Efraim settlement "strengthens our hold on the country, and from here we reiterate: There will not be a Palestinian state."
The Bayit Yehudi deputy minister was referencing comments made by Kerry earlier this month in which he warned that a failure to come to a diplomatic accord with the Palestinians based on the two-state solution could lead to a third intifada.
"The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos," Kerry said in a Channel 2 interview. "Does Israel want a third intifada?"
Amid sharp disagreements between Jerusalem and Washington over both the Palestinian and Iranian issues, Kerry will arrive next week to talk with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about those matters, the State Department announced Wednesday.
Kerry, who will leave next Tuesday for Brussels and Moldova, will then fly to Israel for meetings with Netanyahu in Jerusalem and with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.