by Gadi Golan, Shlomi Diaz, Eli Leon, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon: It is inappropriate for Israeli politicians to try to involve international community in elections • PM Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel is under attack by Hamas terrorism and the Palestinian Authority diplomatic effort.
Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog, during a recent tour of the Gaza border area
Photo credit: AP  |
"If Buji [Isaac] Herzog and Tzipi Livni lead Israel, Hamastan will be established in Judea and Samaria," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned on Sunday at an event at the Sami Shamoon College of Engineering in Ashdod.
In an apparent reference to the report that Livni recently told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the passage of any U.N. Security Council resolution regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process ahead of the Knesset elections in March would strengthen the Right, Ya'alon said it was "inappropriate" for Israeli politicians to try involve the international community in the elections.
Regarding the elections, Ya'alon said, "It is becoming clear that these elections are a choice between the nationalist camp, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the other camp, the characteristics of which have not changed, led by Herzog and Livni."
Speaking about the Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Friday, Ya'alon said the attack was carried out by a rogue global jihadist group. "But for us, that does not matter," Ya'alon said. "Hamas is responsible and we demand that it ensure that not even one rocket is fired at us. If a rocket is fired, we will respond accordingly."
Ya'alon said Israel had received word that Hamas claimed it had arrested the perpetrators of Friday's rocket attack. "I hope that Hamas is indeed not seeking escalation, but rather quiet in the Gaza Strip," Ya'alon said.
Yesh Atid leader and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday that the rocket attack was "a result of the fact that Operation Protective Edge did not end decisively. The IDF must respond with full force and without hesitation to the renewal of fire."
Lapid went on to say, "There also was no diplomatic decision [after Operation Protective Edge]. It is not too late to demand the demilitarization of Gaza in exchange for reconstruction and to move ahead with a diplomatic process that would bring quiet to the residents of the south."
The Israeli Navy fired warning shots toward a Palestinian vessel that breached the boundary of the permitted fishing area off the Gaza coast on Sunday. And in Judea and Samaria, Israeli troops arrested three wanted Palestinians, included two suspected Hamas members. In another incident in Judea and Samaria on Sunday, two Palestinians carrying knives were spotted and arrested by Israeli troops and a local security officer near the community of Adam.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he would not turn to "the use of weapons against Israel, I will only use diplomatic means." But, he threatened, if the Palestinian people lose hope, "they will ultimately explode -- and no one can prevent that."
On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu said at a Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony with IDF soldiers in Latrun, "In this struggle that we are in, Israel is being attacked on two fronts simultaneously. It is being attacked by the terrorism of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. It is also under a diplomatic attack led by the Palestinian Authority and which is designed to deny us our very right to defend ourselves and seeks to deny us the legitimacy of our very existence. We are rebuffing both of these attacks.
"Over the weekend, we sent a clear message to Hamas -- we are not prepared to countenance the firing of even one rocket and we are responding accordingly and in strength. We also have a clear message to those who are leading the diplomatic assault against us. It could be that the Palestinians will, in the very near future, submit to the U.N. Security Council their proposal to unilaterally force on Israel the establishment of a Palestinian state, as well as other conditions that are unacceptable to us. We expect the responsible elements in the international community to reject this proposal; in any case, we will vigorously oppose it and will, of course, not act in accordance with any dictate." Gadi Golan, Shlomi Diaz, Eli Leon, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22295
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