From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 6, 2025
Ben Gvir calls for ending PA cooperation, urges ‘as many checkpoints as possible’ in West Bank after terror attack
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls for an end to cooperation with the Palestinian Authority following this morning’s terror shooting in Al Funduk in the northern West Bank in which three people were killed.
Ben Gvir says Israel should stop believing it has a partner in the PA. “Remember that the PA supports terror, stop all cooperation with it, place as many checkpoints as possible and close roads [because] the settlers’ right to life outweighs PA residents’ freedom of movement,” he says.
“I hope that my position will be accepted by the cabinet this time,” he continues.
“Those who seek to halt the war in Gaza will receive war in Judea and Samaria,” he says, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.
Likud’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi demands an “immediate and uncompromising return to war” against terror.
In a letter to cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs, Karhi says that “Jewish blood is being spilled like water [and] innocent civilians are being slaughtered on the roads of Judea and Samaria, while terrorists roam freely, armed from head to toe, strengthening themselves in poisonous terror nests – while the Palestinian Authority, which supports terrorism, allows them dangerous freedom of action.”
“This grave security reality reminds us of the dark days of the Oslo governments – and it cannot exist under a national right-wing government,” Karhi writes, asking if the government will “wait for another terrorist attack before we wake up?”
“I demand an urgent discussion in the government on this issue – no more weak responses, but a hair-raising, immediate and uncompromising return to war,” he says. “After the great achievements in the south and north, the time has come to act forcefully against the front that is on fire in the heart of our country.”
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