Israel minister apologises to PM over peace talks jibe

Israel's hard-right economy minister apologised Wednesday for public attacks on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over US-backed Middle East peace talks. "There are those who are trying to spin what is a debate about the future and security of our country as a personal attack that never happened," Naftali Bennett said at an education conference at the Dead Sea. "If the prime minister was hurt, I'm very sorry," Bennett said. Media reported that Netanyahu had threatened Wednesday to sack Bennett from the cabinet if he refused to apologise for his criticism in the past few days. Bennett leads the far-right Jewish Home party, which has close ties with the Jewish settler movement. It has 12 seats in parliament and is a member of Netanyahu's coalition. Bennett took Netanyahu to task over reports earlier this week that the premier was floating the idea of leasing existing Israeli settlements from the Palestinians in a future Palestinian state. "An odd idea has come up lately -- that Jews continue living where they are but under Palestinian sovereignty," Bennett said Tuesday. "My response? It will not happen and it cannot happen."