US classification of killing of Palestinian boy as terror act angers Israeli right-wing

TEL AVIV, Israel — The US classification of the killing of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish settlers as an act of terrorism has angered right-wing Israeli government officials.

The settlers killed the 19-year-old boy in the West Bank village of Burqa.

The U.S. State Department called the attack a “terrorist attack” and demanded “full accountability and justice”

It accused the settlers of a “premeditated or indifferent murder” with racist motives.

However, far-right Israeli Minister Avi Dichter rejected the U.S. description of the killing of a Palestinian as a “terrorist attack.”

Although Israeli police arrested the Jewish assailants who killed the boy, they were not detained. One was held under house arrest and another in a hospital.

The incident is part of a larger pattern of settler violence against Palestinians.

More than 200 Palestinians have already been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories this year.

The United Nations has warned of a dramatic increase in violence since Israel’s right-wing government took office.

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has again refused to provide funding for the Palestinians.

The government’s current budget solidifies the ruling coalition’s pro-religious and pro-settlement policies.

Tens of millions of dollars have already been allocated to extremely pro-settler parties as well as settlement expansion projects.