Ben Artzi: If the Likud does not adopt Bennett’s plan, we must leave the party

By MK Ben Artiz, INN

The prime minister’s brother-in-law calls for Minister Bennett to make the plan for the application of sovereignty in Area C the official plan of the party and states: If Netanyahu does not follow in his footsteps then people should leave Likud and support Bennett, since it would be clear that there is no other Rightist party.

The prime minister’s brother-in-law , Dr. Hagai Ben Artzi, calls on the Likud to adopt Minister Bennett’s political-diplomatic plan and to apply Israeli sovereignty in Area C at least. During his speech in the tent of the ‘33-hour vigil’, which was erected by Women in Green activists at the beginning of the week, he said that the application of sovereignty is also in the interest of those who advocate negotiations with the Palestinians and laid out details of his thoughts on the matter.

Later in his speech he even declared that if the Likud does not adopt Minister Bennett’s plan, he himself will act openly in behalf of HaBayit HaYehudi and against the Likud, which he would no longer be able to see as the leader of the nationalist camp.

Dr. Ben Artzi noted at the beginning of his speech that in the present
reality, with the Arab population in Judea and Samaria under the
responsibility of the Palestinian Authority, the only population that
is under military rule is the Jewish population of Yosh (Hebrew
acronym for Judea and Samaria).

According to him, the necessary answer in this reality is, in its
first phase, application of Israeli sovereignty in Area C “and
afterward we will progress onward. There is no need for demographic
misgivings. In this area there are approximately fifty thousand Arabs
and more than four hundred thousand Jews. All of the transitory
workers that the Left wants to add are no more than fifty thousand”.

“I call on Minister Bennett to rise and lift this banner proudly and
challenge the Likud – to ask them if they accept it or not. If they do
not accept this idea they cannot define themselves as a party of the
Right and the nationalist camp. The Left has asked us what is the
alternative, and we are presenting a logical plan”, said Ben Artzi and
rejected the claim that the world would define this step as
unilateral. He believes that this claim is “total nonsense”. Since
Israel has twice already declared sovereignty in Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights, and this did not stop the Left from continuing to see
these areas as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Arabs.

He added that in the idea of an exchange of territories that the
governments of Israel have proposed, territories under Israeli
sovereignty were offered as compensation for territories in Judea and
Samaria. This means that even areas with sovereignty from ’48 does not
prevent political negotiations from being considered regarding those
areas.

Dr. Ben Artzi continued, saying that even for the proponents of
political negotiations with the Palestinians, it is correct to
approach such negotiations from the standpoint of sovereignty and not
from a temporary reality of military rule. “How do you enter
negotiations? From a standpoint that says that our rights to Judea and
Samaria are no less valid than the Arabs’ rights. This is not an area
under foreign occupation, but rather, we come with the claim that
these are ‘disputed territories’, as International Law defines it. We
have a connection that begins with our forefathers and no one can deny
this. There is no Christian who would say that the Bible is nonsense.
We must come to negotiations from the standpoint of proof that we have
a connection and that we belong here”.

“If we come to negotiations with only military rule after 50 years,
this sends the message that we are only occupiers here; that the
people feel that the territory is not theirs and it is only for
security reasons that the territory is held. Therefore, even those who
advocate negotiations must come with at least a situation in which
Area C is under Israeli sovereignty, because otherwise we are sending
the message that we are occupiers there”. Dr. Ben Artzi’s conclusion
is that “the Left and the world must also support the application of
sovereignty”.

“The call for sovereignty over the entire territory is correct and
ethically just, but from a political point of view we must call on
Minister Bennett and HaBayit HaYehudi to present the plan as the
party’s official plan, in contrast to the Likud, said Ben Artzi, and
turned the rest of his speech directly toward Prime Minister
Netanyahu, his brother-in-law, saying: “I appeal to Bibi and Sarah,
know that if, in the next elections, the Likud does not officially
adopt Bennett’s plan to apply Israeli law at least in all of the
territories of Area C, not just the Jordan Valley and Gush Etzion, we
all must say that we are going with HaBayit HaYehudi and we don’t
support the Likud. We will not go along with them because the Likud
will be seen as not suitable to lead. It will be necessary to say
openly that only a leader who will adopt Bennett’s plan officially is
suitable to lead the state and the nationalist camp”.

Regarding himself personally, he went on and said: “Even with the
whole matter of family, I will openly stand against Bibi and in favor
of Bennett, if they do not adopt Bennett’s plan. We will forget petty
considerations and we will go only with the party that will adopt
Bennett’s plan. The council heads should say this to Likud”.

Dr. Ben Artzi said these things, as mentioned, at the 33-hour vigil
where many citizens and public figures came to express solidarity and
support with the call to the prime minister to lead forward to victory
and resolution over the terror, resolution that would come together
with and as a result of the historical, political, Zionist, principled
and just step of application of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

Along with the many citizens who came to express their resolute
position supporting the fight to apply sovereignty, public figures
came to speak, among them, Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, Head of
Yesha Council Avi Roe, MK Moti Yogev, Deputy Minister of Defense MK
Rav Eli Ben Dahan, Prof. Aryeh Eldad, Deputy mayor of Jerusalem Dov
Kalmanovich, Rav Menahem Felix and many others.