News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has encouraged cabinet colleagues to use the term "Judenrein," German for "Jew free", in their defense of Jews in Judea and Samaria, and of Israel's insistence that Arabs recognize it as a Jewish state, according to a Netanyahu associate cited by Reuters on Thursday. The term came into vogue during the Holocaust. According to the report, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier could only nod his head this week, when Netanyahu told him, "Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein," according to the associate.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor urged foreign reporters to ask whether "Palestinians would accept that Jews will live among them, or whether it is going to be totally not allowed." He continued, "'Judenrein' is the term that was once used in other countries," and the remarks were echoed the next day by another Likud minister who briefed journalists and diplomats, according to the report.

Referring to the use of the term, former Israeli ambassador to Washington and veteran Likud member Zalman Shoval "I don't like to transfer the trappings of Nazis to others, even if they are our enemies."

There was no comment from German officials.