A racist settler rabbi asserted Tuesday that Israel should strive to “cleanse” the territories under its control of all Arab-Palestinian inhabitants. Speaking at an event in Givat Oz V’Gaon – a new settlement – Dov Lior contended that “Israel would never be able to strike a peace agreement with the Palestinians, since the Palestinian population was only interested in waging war against the Jewish state”, the religious-Zionist affiliated Kipa website reported.

Rabbi Dov Lior in Kyriat Arba settlement (Photo: Wikipedia)

“There was no peace and there will never be peace, not because we do not want [peace], but because there is no one to make peace with,” said Lior, who serves as the chief rabbi of the settlement of Kiryat Arba and a civil-servant.

Lior is no stranger to racism. He was briefly arrested in 2011 after refusing to submit to police questioning regarding his endorsement of the book “Torat Hamelech,” a compendium of Jewish religious laws on relations between Jews and non-Jews containing racist invective and incitement to violence. The book also lays out the conditions under which Jews could kill non-Jews.

The Kiryat Arba rabbi added that the Israeli government should encourage the Palestinians to emigrate from the region. “We must strive to clean the entire country,” Lior said, referring to the Palestinians.

The outspoken rabbi had in the past come under fire for a number of controversial statements as well. In June, only a week after the three teenagers were abducted from a hitchhiking post outside the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem, Lior suggested that offense to religious traditions may be the reason for God having afflicted Israel with the kidnappings. In October last year, the prominent religious-Zionist leader said that Arab “terrorists and their supporters… can go to Saudi Arabia.” In 2011, Lior made similar comments, calling Arabs “camel riders” and “wolves” who “hate peace,” adding that they should be given the “right of return” to places like Saudi Arabia. According to “The Times of Israel” website, Lior is affiliated with the hard-right Tekumah party, which merged with minister Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home faction before the 2013 elections.