Bennett declares ‘world war,’ equates Paris to West Bank

Education Minister Naftali Bennett says the attacks in Paris are part of a “world war between radical Islam and the free world.”

Speaking to students at Ariel University in the West Bank, Bennett, who leads the pro-settler Jewish Home party, says, “Either you will be here or the Islamic State will.”

After invoking the radical Islamist group, which claimed the gruesome attacks in Paris, Bennett rails against the notion that Israel should compromise in its conflict with the Palestinians.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, leads the weekly Jewish Home party meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, November 02, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“If France were today to offer half of Paris to the Muslims – would that reduce terrorism or encourage it? If it were to release terrorists, would that decrease or increase [terrorism]?” he asks.

“Terrorism,” Bennett elaborates, “doesn’t stem from Palestinians losing hope, but from the fact that they do have hope. A Palestinian state is their hope. It is a central fixture of their phased plan.

“If we uproot their hope for the phased plan, their motivation to commit terrorism will be reduced. A Palestinian state is a strategic danger that must be uprooted.”