Settlers to Netanyahu: If you want our votes, apply sovereignty now
"If you want the support of the Right – act like you are the leader of the Right.”
By TOVAH LAZAROFF'Sovreignty Now' rally seen outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem.(photo credit: DANIEL GILO/TPS)Settlers and right-wing activists warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would lose votes for the March 2 election unless he applied sovereignty to the West Bank settlements now."If you want the support of the Right – act like you are the leader of the Right,” Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said as he addressed a rally of several thousand that was held on the street outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence.The crowd chanted “sovereignty now” and sang, “the Jewish people live.”Netanyahu had initially pledged to apply sovereignty to all the West Bank settlements. But he held off at the request of the Trump administration, which wants both Israel and the US to jointly map out the territory, before any action is taken.At the rally, settles urged Netanyahu to ignored Washington and focus on his voters at home.“Did we vote for [US special envoy] Jared Kushner? Did we vote for the State Department? Would England or Italy allow another nation to poke its nose in its business in the same way? We chose you. Mr. Prime Minister, and the ball is in your court here in Jerusalem not in Washington. We are not a banana republic,” Dagan said.Yesha Council head and Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani said that unless Netanyahu applied sovereignty now, “I fear that your voters won’t come out to vote. They are sitting at home, waiting. They know that this is a dramatic history moment. They love you. They believe in you. They are asking that you stand by your promise to apply sovereignty on the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and the settlements in Judea and Samaria. They are the ones that can determine if you will achieve the necessary 61 mandates to form a right bloc. Listen to them,” Elhayani said.
