Netanyahu's Likud party accuses Naftali Bennett of endangering Israel
"Israeli security is holy and it is endangered more than anything by those who childishly and irresponsibly use it as a platform for tweeting."
By GIL HOFFMANNetanyahu and Bennett(photo credit: REUTERS,MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Likud struck back on Friday at Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett for criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's support for relinquishing Arab areas of pre-1967 Israel in return for annexing settlement blocs.Bayit Yehudi released a statement late Thursday saying that the plan would cause grave harm to Israeli security. The party said in the statement that Netanyahu should stop surrendering and giving prizes to terror.The Likud responded that what really harms Israeli security is "people who sit in the security cabinet and are guided not by what is good for the citizens of Israel but their own personal good and the headlines they leak from the closed-door forum."A statement released by Netanyahu's party pointed out that Bennett voted to remove metal detectors on the Temple Mount and "pompously declared that he supported the prime minister but then did not last a minute and a half under pressure from the press and the public.""Israeli security should not be subjected to populism and political spin," the Likud statement said. "Israeli security is holy and it is endangered more than anything by those who childishly and irresponsibly use it as a platform for tweeting."Bayit Yehudi minister Ayelet Shaked responded that "surrendering is not appreciated in the Middle East."In an interview with the Makor Rishon newspaper, Bennett promised that he would not recommend to President Reuven Rivlin that Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid form the next governing coalition."Lapid is my friend but I would not recommend him to be prime minister," Bennett said. "I would only recommend a candidate from the nationalist camp, not someone from the Left."
