Gantz visits Gush Etzion settlement, praises strategic value for Israel

Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, who is expected to lead the Center-Left camp in the April 9 election, visited the Kfar Etzion Field School over the Green Line.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Updated: FEBRUARY 13, 2019 03:37
Benny Gantz visits the Kfar Etzion Field School. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Benny Gantz visits the Kfar Etzion Field School.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, who polls predict will lead the Center-Left camp in the April 9 election, visited the Kfar Etzion Field School on Monday and spoke about the need for Israel to retain the Gush Etzion bloc.
The Field School is located in the center of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion in the Judean Hills, 20 km. south of Jerusalem.
He wrote that the visit made a significant impression on him.
“The bloc was a strategic and spiritual settlement asset and will remain so forever,” Gantz wrote in the school’s visitor book.
In Gantz’s first political speech on January 29, he explained his views on settlements:
“We will strengthen the settlement blocs and the Golan Heights, from which we will never retreat,” Gantz said.
“The Jordan Valley will remain our eastern security border,” he continued. “We will maintain security in the entire Land of Israel, but we will not allow the millions of Palestinians living beyond the separation fence to endanger our security and our identity as a Jewish state.”
Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg criticized Gantz for his visit to Gush Etzion.
“When there is no Right and no Left, it is the Right that dictates the tone,” Zandberg said. “Israel’s top strategic asset is not settlements, but achieving a peace agreement. Those who want to reach an agreement in which Israel keeps the blocs, must speak clearly about evacuating settlements instead of offering empty slogans.”