The Prime Minister’s Office reacted angrily Monday night to US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro’s charge the Jewish state holds Israelis and Palestinians to different standards of law in Judea and Samaria. 

“The ambassador’s remarks, on a day in which a murdered mother of six was buried and a pregnant woman was stabbed – are unacceptable and incorrect,” the Prime Minister’s Office blasted. 

“Israel enforces its laws equally against Israelis and Palestinians,” it added. 

The Prime Minister’s Office further noted that “the one responsible for the political deadlock is the Palestinian Authority who continues to incite [terror attacks] and refuses to negotiate.”

The political echelon clarified it wouldn’t countenance attempts to blame “settlements” for the stalemate with the Palestinians.

In his speech at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Shapiro accused Israel of selective law enforcement against Palestinians in Judea-Samaria. 

“Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked,” he charged, adding that “there is lack of thorough investigations… at times it seems Israel has two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank – one for Jews and one for Palestinians.”

Shapiro also condemned the two brutal stabbing attacks on Sunday and Monday as “barbaric acts of terrorism,” before launching into a critique of Israel’s policies concerning the communities in Judea-Samaria. 

“We are concerned and perplexed by Israel’s strategy on settlements,” Shapiro stated. “This government and previous Israeli governments have repeatedly expressed support for a negotiated settlement that would involve mutual recognition and separation.”

“Yet separation will become more and more difficult if Israel continues to expand settlements,” he asserted.