Education Minister Naftali Bennett compares the developing ceasefire deal with Gaza to extortion by the mafia.
In a speech at the inaugural ceremony for the Ariel University medical school, Bennett says: “About a hundred years ago, the Italian mafia launched in the United States. It targeted a business, sabotaged the business, burned it down, threatened the workers and then offered the business owner protection for a fee. It’s called ‘protection.'”
He explains: “That is what Hamas is trying to do to Israel today. For 140 days, Hamas has burned our fields and towns. It fires hundreds of rockets at our towns, guns down our soldiers, and then tells us, ‘Here are our demands, if you abide by them we will stop.'”
And he warns: “Ladies and gentlemen, whoever gives in to them will bring us war. The State of Israel must not surrender to the threats of Hamas. Hamas must understand that it will pay a terrible price for any harm to Israeli citizens. Hamas must be afraid of hurting us, not profit from it.”
He adds, however, that “not every attack from Hamas requires a ground incursion into Gaza. I oppose such an incursion at this stage.”
— Jacob Magid
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From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 19, 2018
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