US Ambassador to Israel Daniel B. Shapiro. He said he regrets the timing of his remarks last week that were critical of Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro told Army Radio on Monday that he regrets the timing of controversial remarks he made last week that were critical of Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria.

Shapiro had said at a conference in Tel Aviv on Jan. 18, “Too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities; too much vigilantism goes unchecked; and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.” Earlier on the same day, Israeli mother of six Dafna Meir was laid to rest in Jerusalem after being stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Otniel, while a pregnant Israeli woman, Michal Froman, was wounded in a stabbing in Tekoa.

In Monday’s Army Radio interview, Shapiro said, “I understand the timing [of the comments] was not the best. I started with a condemnation of the attacks in Otniel and Tekoa. There were just one or two lines that caused disagreement, but if this, God forbid, hurt the Meir family or anyone else mourning Dafna’s death, may her memory be a blessing, then of course I regret it.”