PM's speech disrupted by environmental protesters

Environmental activists barge their way into a conference in the southern town of Yeruham and disrupt a speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Army Radio reports.

They call on him to develop existing towns in the southern desert instead of building new ones, as is planned. “Stop killing the Negev!” they cry.

“I was deeply impressed by the spontaneity of your protest,” Netanyahu says. “The Negev won’t be built just by one point or another. It will be built by a complex of actions we’re taking.”

He dismisses their calls as “an example of populist politics.”

“The most advanced companies in the world are coming to the Negev. When was that? How do you think we create jobs? You think the government has a money tree, from which you can pick and pick. You need to put up a economy tree.”