Economy Minister Bennett warns that relinquishing control of Judea and Samaria would expose Israel’s home front to tunnels leading into the heartland of Israel.
Israeli soldiers from the Givati brigade seen at the entrance to a terror tunnel. (Photo: IDF Spokesperson/FLASH90
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Wednesday that relinquishing Israeli control of the West Bank would expose Israel’s home front to infiltration tunnels leading into the heartland of Israel.
In a statement he released marking nine years since Israel’s rooting out of its settlements in Gaza, Bennett said that the disengagement had taught us that “he who runs from terror has terror chase after him. Those who chase after terror will live in security.”
Bennett said that the the disengagement from Gaza and its consequences, as seen in Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, shed light on the implications of the founding of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
“I learned that a Palestinian state will destroy the Israeli economy,” Bennett claimed. “It will destroy tourism, business and commerce,” he said, adding that a Palestinian state would not only hurt Israel’s security, but also isolate the Jewish state diplomatically.
Weapons discovered in Hamas terror tunnel. (Photo: IDF)
Bennett gave the example of the United States deciding to cancel air travel to Israel during Operation Protective Edge as a scenario that could repeat itself should Israel give up control of the West Bank.
“What one rocket fired at Yehud from Gaza succeeded in doing is liable to be duplicated by an anti-aircraft missile from Samaria, six kilometers from Ben-Gurion Airport, perhaps even a shoulder-launched missile. In this case [the airport] would be shut down for more than just two days.”
Bennett said that the tunnel threat from Gaza, which was revealed during Operation Protective Edge, would also repeat itself from the West Bank.
“What a tunnel from Gaza did not succeed in doing, a tunnel into Kfar Saba or Route 6 will accomplish,” he warned.
“We have a country that has seen amazing development in 67 years, 50 of them with Judea and Samaria. We won’t let everything be destroyed because of messianic fantasies of peace with murderers,” Bennett said.
Source: The Jerusalem Post