Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, the head of the National Union faction of the Bayit Yehudi party, said Wednesday that the time has come for Israel to expel the families of Palestinians who murder Israelis and to alter the current reality in Judea and Samaria in which Palestinians who kill Israelis walk away from their attacks “clean.”
“The security establishment understands what needs to be done, how much needs to be done, why it needs to be done. We don’t need to debate the issue. We need to get out and implement the plans.
“We have heard for years about ‘carrots and sticks,’ and what kind of sticks should be used. Well, this is the time for sticks – perhaps if we’d been using them, this wouldn’t have happened. But now, we certainly should. We could expel families from their homes, demolish homes. It’s in the defense minister’s hands. It would be entirely justified, and would enjoy widespread public support,” Ariel told Israel Broadcast Corporation (Kan) .
Asked whether Israel could take defensive measures to prevent more attacks, Ariel said Israel must move from a defensive posturing to an offensive one, citing the Talmudic principle of “if someone tries to kill you, you kill them first.”
“For months, the army has been staging ‘attacks’ – without any Palestinian casualties. What is that, some kind of secret weapon? There’s fire and smoke, no Palestinian casualties?
“The time has come for the Palestinians to suffer some casualties and deaths, instead of killing us and coming out alright. Even more than alright – they come away [from killing Israelis] with salaries and pensions.
“It’s time to change that equation,” Ariel said.
MK Betzalel Smotrich, also from the Bayit Yehudi party, was the first person at the scene of the terror attack last night and tried to save Rabbi Raziel Shevach‘s life. He called on the Defense Minister to impose a higher price for terror.