ACTIVISTS compared racist comments made by an Israeli ultra-right-wing minister to those of the “Ku Klux Klan” today.

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir provoked outrage during a television interview with Israel’s Channel 12 today when he insisted his right to freedom of movement was more important than that of Arabs.

Mr Gvir said: “My right, the right of my wife and my children, to circulate on the roads of the West Bank (occupied territory) is more important than the right to freedom of movement of the Arabs; This is the reality, this is the truth. My right to life precedes your right to freedom of movement.”

Opposition lawmaker Ofer Cassid MP said Mr Gvir was not only racist but also stupid.

Kaplan Force, the protest movement against the Israeli government’s attempts to overturn the country’s judicial system said: “The man who destroys national security speaks in words reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan and anti-semitic persecutors of Jews around the world.”

They also criticised the silence of the rest of the partners of the governing coalition — the most right wing in Israeli history.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor head of communication Muhammad Shehada wrote on the X social network that the minister was “shouting at the top of his lungs that Israeli Jews have a higher status than Palestinians.

“At this point, Ben Gvir can just put us on trucks and deport us to Jordan while the civilised world looks the other way!”

Mr Gvir has a long record of incitement against the Palestinians. He has been charged more than 50 times and convicted eight times for riots, vandalism and incitement to racism.

In one of a number of provocative incidents since joining the government Mr Gvir toured the Jerusalem Mosques Esplanade with a large police escort, an action highly criticised by the Palestinians.