Government needs peace, not Bennett, senior minister says

A senior Israeli minister on Saturday attacked Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, saying his “hypocritical” right wing party was the sole impediment to extending peace talks, and noting that the prime minister could form a government without its 12 members.

In an interview Saturday with Channel 2, Environmental Minister Amir Peretz (Hatnua) called Jewish Home the “national hypocrisy party” and said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could weld together an alternative government without it in order to keep the peace talks with the Palestinians afloat.

“The time has come for Netanyahu to decide whether this government is an extreme right-wing government or a government that continues the peace process,” Peretz said. “One thing is clear: there is an alternative to the [current] government without Bennett. There is no alternative to the government without the peace process.”

Peretz’s statements came after Bennett threatened that his 12-seat nationalist-Orthodox Jewish Home would bolt if the government reached an agreement with the Palestinians to release Israeli-Arabs from prison in a bid to salvage the faltering peace talks.

Naftali Bennett (Flash90)

“If the proposition of releasing Israeli murderers is brought before the government, Jewish Home will oppose it,” Bennett said in a statement late Thursday night. “If the proposal passes — Jewish Home with leave any government that releases murderers who have Israeli citizenship.” That stance was formally endorsed by Jewish Home MKs on Friday.

Peretz’s party leader, chief negotiator with the Palestinians Tzipi Livni, said of Bennett on Saturday that it was unacceptable for a person whose sole aim was to derail the peace process to issue ultimata to the government.

Meanwhile Israeli officials on Saturday warned the Palestinian Authority that so long as it continued to seek recognition via international bodies, sanctions against the PA would grow more severe, Channel 2 reported. A senior official also dismissed the State Department’s criticism of Israel’s levying sanctions against the PA by withholding tax revenues, saying Washington’s response was disproportionate and unjust. The State Department on Friday called Israel’s threatened sanctions “unfortunate.”

An unnamed Israeli official acknowledged to Channel 2 Saturday that there could be no deal with the Palestinians without a release of Israeli-Arab prisoners, suggesting that a continuation of peace talks beyond the April 29 deadline would either result in the departure of the Jewish Home party from the government or Bennett backing down from his threat.

Peretz also called on Finance Minister Yair Lapid, of the centrist Yesh Atid, to step up and lend his weight to the peace process, instead of just “sitting in the gallery and clapping hands.”

“Yair Lapid is a fan of peace. That’s nice,” Peretz said. “He doesn’t take to the pitch. I really think that the time has come for Yair Lapid to go down to the field and be prepared to pay the price, because his ‘bro’ Bennett is not his natural family. I recommend that Lapid be an active member [of the peace process] and not a passive one.”