Netanyahu says relocating terrorists ‘effective’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is backing a controversial bill that would forcible move Palestinian relatives of terrorists, but appears to be tempering expectations after the attorney general said the measure was likely not constitutional or in line with international law.

“Expulsion of terrorists is an effective tool. To me the benefit exceeds the damage,” he tells Likud lawmakers during a faction meeting at the Knesset, according to a Likud statement.

Benjamin Netanyahu leads a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on December 17, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

“Jurists say it’s against the law given how it’s defined, and it will surely be a legal challenge, but I have no doubt of its effectiveness,” he says.

The measure would forcibly relocate relatives of Palestinian terrorists to other parts of the West Bank.

On Sunday, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman warned that the move, which was given coalition backing, could harm Israel’s security rather than improve it, according to a report in the Haaretz daily.

Netanyahu also says during the meeting he is doing everything to fight terror, including tearing down homes of terrorists, and is looking to see if there is a legal way to expand the controversial measure.