Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that he sees no reason to meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, despite several high-level contacts between the new Israeli government and the PA.
Bennett, speaking to Kan’s public broadcaster as part of a series of interviews he offered to the Israeli media, cited the prosecution of war crimes charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the continued payment of monthly expenses to security prisoners, including those convicted of killing Israelis.
“I see no logic in meeting someone who sues IDF soldiers in The Hague and accuses them of war crimes and at the same time pays salaries to terrorists,” Bennett told Kan’s public broadcaster. . “I don’t see the logic in knowing him.”
In March, the ICC’s chief prosecutor announced that he was opening an investigation into the actions taken by Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since June 13, 2014. It was Abbas’s request to the Hague which led to the opening of the probe.
Bennett told U.S. Jewish leaders earlier this month that he would not meet with Abbas, citing the AP chief’s decision to bring Israel before the ICC.
The off-record call with the leaders of the Conference of Presidents of major American Jewish organizations came days after Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Abbas in Ramallah in the first face-to-face talks between high level between Israeli and Palestinian officials. more than a decade.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah on May 5, 2020. (Flash90)
Asked on Tuesday about the importance of the meeting regarding the new government’s policy towards the Palestinians, Bennett reiterated his belief that no political progress would be possible in the near future, maintaining his long-standing position that there would be no of having a Palestinian state. .
“I oppose a Palestinian state: I think it would be a terrible mistake,” he said. “I won’t.”
At the same time, Bennett said, he agreed with Gantz’s approach to maintaining ties and connections with Palestinian officials to maintain calm and security coordination.
But, he added, there is currently no possibility of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians.
“We all understand that at the moment it’s not relevant,” he said.
Israel and the PA have historically maintained security cooperation in the West Bank that they both consider vital. However, security ties were lowered last year as ties with the Palestinians worsened amid a wave of moves by then-US President Donald Trump that appeared to favor the Israeli position. Abbas said ties would be restored after U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January.
Bennett gave interviews to the three major television networks, as well as various newspapers and news sites, ahead of Yom Kippur.
Speaking to the Walla news site, the prime minister said he knows many Israelis are angry with him over his decision to form a government with left-wing Israeli and Arab parties, but that he maintains his decision.
“There are quite a few people among the public who were very disappointed with the fact that this government was created and how it was created,” Bennett said. “I hope and ask that they come with an open mind and judge me and the government for our actions.”
The recently sworn Israeli government puts a group photo at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on June 14, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Bennett, who will rotate the prime minister with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid during the government’s term, was able to form a coalition of left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties, along with Islamist Ra’am, mainly through its common goal. to remove Benjamin Netanyahu from the prime minister’s office.
The new government, which took office in June after four national elections since April 2019, is made up of eight of the 13 parties that won seats in the March 23 elections: Yesh Atid, Blue and White , Yisrael Beytenu, Labor, Yamina, New Hope, Meretz and Ra’am.
Netanyahu and his allies have regularly attacked Bennett for relying on Ra’am’s support to swear in power-sharing government, although the Likud made its own efforts to lure the Islamist party after the general election. March.
Bennett said Tuesday he could have missed the opportunity to form an unlikely government that would span the political spectrum and go to a fifth election, “and I know a lot of people are angry, and it’s okay, and I’m on my side. “.
Bennett, in statements to Channel 12 news, apologized for the “pain I caused” to the family of Barel Hadaria Shmueli, a Border Police officer who was killed in the head by a Palestinian gunman on 21 August and succumbed to his wounds just over a week later.
Border police officer Barel Shmueli, who was critically injured in a shooting on the Gaza border on August 21, 2021. He died of his wounds on August 30. (Border Police)
His family, along with right-wing activists and opposition lawmakers, accused the military of issuing overly restrictive rules of engagement claiming that troops prevented riot police from being kept away from the border fence.
Shmueli’s father has suggested that Bennett give up on the incident, his mother has said he does not trust the government or the army. The family has also rejected the Israeli Defense Forces investigation, demanding an independent investigation.
“I made a mistake,” he said, referring to a call he made to the family in which he confused Shmueli’s name with his father’s. “I apologize to the family, but it is important to note that he was not murdered, he fell while fulfilling his duty.”
IDF has denied being blamed for the open fire rules, noting that Shmueli himself fired on riot police as they rushed to the border and said the way the troops were deployed was to blame.
In response to Bennett’s interview, Shmueli’s mother, Nitza, described Bennett as a “dog” and “killer” on social media, before the message appeared.
“Shame on you, piece of dog,” he wrote on Facebook Tuesday night.
“As you dare say my son was not murdered, you are a murderer with blood on his hands … I promise you, Bennett, that one day we will meet,” he added ominously.