Israeli minister who called for Palestinian town to be wiped out gets U.S. visa

• The State Department, which condemned Smotrich's Hawara comments, held internal consultations on whether to deny Smotrich a visa, as Axios previously reported.
• A State Department spokesperson said that "visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases."

The big picture: Smotrich said in a tweet on Saturday that he didn't mean to call for harming innocent civilians. "People sometimes use harsh words they don't mean in order to pass a message. It happens to everyone," he said. He also issued an apology late Wednesday.

• He is expected in Washington early next week for a conference hosted by the Israel Bonds organization.

Behind the scenes: A senior U.S. official said that during the internal consultations at the State Department, the overall understanding was that there is a very high bar both politically and legally for denying a diplomatic visa for a minister of a U.S. ally.

What they're saying: Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, said earlier on Thursday at an event organized by Al-Monitor in Washington that Smotrich walked back his comments but she declined to speak about his visa.

• The Biden administration has made clear that no U.S. officials will meet Smotrich during his visit.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the State Department spokesperson's comment.