Benny Gantz: Benjamin Netanyahu's annexation announcement is spin
“It is not real. He had 13 years to do it, and he didn’t do it. It is interesting that he decided to do it now out of all times,” Benny Gantz said.
By GIL HOFFMANBenny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R)(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz mocked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he intends to annex West Bank settlements after Tuesday’s election as “political spin.”Netanyahu made the announcement on Saturday night in what seen as part of an effort to woo voters from the Likud’s satellite parties on the Right.“I am not in favor of making strategic announcements as a trial balloon a few days before the election,” Gantz told Army Radio. “It is not real. He had 13 years to do it, and he didn’t do it. It is interesting that he decided to do it now out of all times.”Gantz said Netanyahu made the announcement because he is worried about being replaced as prime minister. He said he expected Netanyahu to make more announcements ahead of the election.Asked about his own plans for the West Bank, Gantz said: “I support attempting to reach a peace agreement with security and diplomatic principles in which the Jordan Valley is our eastern security border, Jerusalem is our capital and the settlement blocs are in our hands. Nothing would happen unilaterally.” Gantz said that if Netanyahu knows what is in the diplomatic plan that US President Donald Trump has been working on, he should reveal it to the public.
