Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the start of his Sunday morning cabinet meeting attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for his call to Israeli Jews last Friday, “Run to the hills, settle.”
Ben Gvir made his statement on a visit to the Evyatar outpost, where the settlers who had agreed to vacate as part of a July 2021 deal with the Lapid-Bennett-Gantz government came home without government interference (Jews Returning to Evyatar Outpost with Gallant and Netanyahu’s Tacit Approval).
Netanyahu declared on Sunday: “The appropriate response to terrorism is to fight terrorists and deepen our grip on our country. We build according to approved construction plans. Statements about occupying territories illegally and such actions are unacceptable to me and must stop immediately. Not only will we not back such actions, but we will act firmly against them.”
Ben Gvir tweeted in response: “I appreciate and love the Prime Minister, but the problem of our governing does not start with the settlers in Judea and Samaria, but with leniency to rioters in the Golan Heights and the lack of enforcement against selective enforcement. The right-wing government must realize its vision: settlement in the Judea and Samaria territories along with zero tolerance to those who threaten that if we do not accede to their requests there will be war. Israel must not fold!”
Ben Gvir was also referring to Netanyahu’s current capitulation to the Druze in the Golan who have been protesting violently against a $400 million wind turbine project which the National Security Minister had declared in a meeting with the Druze leadership that he was not budging and the law must be obeyed (Netanyahu Gives in to Druze Violence, Halts $400 mil. Golan Turbine Project).
