JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed Friday to push for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by economically “strangulating” it to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“I will act using all the tools at my disposal to prevent the danger of a Palestinian state, including the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, through economic strangulation,” the far-right minister wrote on the US social media company X.

He claimed that the PA’s “entire essence is the pursuit of the destruction of Israel."

Smotrich has frozen the transfer of clearance revenues—taxes collected by Israel on imports destined for Palestinian markets—to the PA, which has faced a severe financial crisis that has left it unable to pay full salaries to its employees for months.

Israel began deducting portions of these revenues in 2019 under various pretexts, deepening the PA’s fiscal shortfall.

Several countries, including Britain, France, Australia, and Canada, recently announced plans to recognize the State of Palestine during this month’s UN General Assembly meetings.

Out of 193 UN member states, at least 149 already recognize the state declared by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

In the same post, Smotrich reiterated his call to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank, saying: “The application of Israeli sovereignty is the only way to ensure that a Palestinian state will not be established.”

Israel has pursued measures widely viewed as paving the way for annexation, including demolishing homes, displacing Palestinians, seizing land, and accelerating settlement expansion.

Annexation would effectively end prospects for a two-state solution outlined in UN resolutions.

Separately, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also attacked the PA in a post on X, calling it “terrorist” and warning, “If we do not dismantle it in time, we will wake up too late, as happened in Gaza,” referring to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas fighters on Israeli communities and military bases.

The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 65,200 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.