Netanyahu: ‘Israeli right turns against Deal of the Century’

Israeli media reported, Thursday, that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is very concerned about what appears to be a move by far-right parties against the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’.

The Yedioth Ahronoth website reported that “Netanyahu’s entourage expressed some concerns in the wake of Kushner’s statements about the annexation, presumably taking place after the Knesset elections on 2 March, which cause severe damage to Netanyahu’s credibility, after he and his advisers pledged that the annexation decision will be discussed in the coming government meeting for ratification, next Sunday.”

The website added that “strongly-worded messages on the topic of annexation from settlement leaders and the centre-right parties arrived at the Prime Minister’s office. During his flight from Washington to Moscow, Netanyahu held ’emergency consultations,’ and he even summoned the Minister of Tourism, Yariv Levin, to return to the plane, ten minutes after he got off.”

Netanyahu took a while to get off the plane in Moscow. “The annexation issue has turned into a farce, especially in light of the fact that Netanyahu is caught now between differences in the White House between the camp of Ambassador David Friedman and Vice President Mike Pence, who support immediate annexation, and between Kushner’s camp, who fears that implementing the annexation now will lead to sabotaging the Deal and enabling Palestinians to mobilise the Arab world against it, reported the same source.”

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Sources in the New Right, headed by Naftali Bennett, said today: “Missing the opportunity will severely affect the settlements. Half a million residents (settlers) of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley are eager for sovereignty, and this is within reach. Reluctance is forbidden,” while demanding Netanyahu “to work with determination and vote next week for imposing Israeli sovereignty over all settlements, and we will stand behind you.”

Israel’s Minister of Communications Betzalel Smutritich, from the United Right Alliance, told Israeli TV Channel 12 today: “Trump’s plan is not good enough, and if we have to ratify it in the government or the Knesset, we will oppose it with all our strength. This is a plan at the end of which is the establishment of a Palestinian state, and this is something that we will not allow under any circumstance. The entire land of Israel is ours, and we will not give up any centimetre of it. This is true from Zionist, ethical, Jewish and certainly security perspectives, as witnesses the history of 100 years of Zionism.”

Smutritich called on Netanyahu to impose the “sovereignty” of Israel over the Jordan Valley and the settlements as soon as possible, “and, God willing, we will impose sovereignty during the next week, and if not Sunday, it will be on Monday or Tuesday. It will happen, and this is a historical and dramatic event.”

He also discussed Jordan’s opposition to the Deal of the Century and the warnings made by security officials that annexing the Jordan Valley threatens the peace agreement with Jordan, saying that, “the peace agreement with Jordan serves the interests of the Jordanians more than the Israelis and the last thing that the Hashemite Kingdom needs its borders with a Palestinian State.  I am reminding here of the presence of a Palestinian majority in Jordan, and this could lead the regime there. They may seek to calm the street by telling them what they want to hear, but the peace agreement will not be cancelled, and the region will not burst.”

Likewise, the party of the fascist rabbi, Meir Kahane, Otzma Yehudit, headed by Itamar Bin Ghafir, said that “this is a dysfunctional and dangerous deal that may bring us a Palestinian state, which will pose a threat to the State of Israel and hand over some areas of the land of Israel. It became clear this morning that the candy they proposed to give to the Israeli people so that they can sweeten the deal are false and misleading. Therefore, we will wage war against the deal, as we believe that the establishment of a Palestinian state a few kilometres away from Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Petah Tikva and Rosh Ha’ayin is a menace to Israel and brings us back to the Oslo era.”

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