Ayelet Shaked: Apply sovereignty to settlements, Jordan Valley before elections

Shaked discussed the 'Deal of the Century' presented by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and argued that “we have a massive opportunity to make history."

FEBRUARY 5, 2020 20:46

Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked speaks at a press conference. (photo credit: EHUD AMITON/TPS) — Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked speaks at a press conference.

(photo credit: EHUD AMITON/TPS)

Senior Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked called on Wednesday for the immediate annexation of all settlements and the Jordan Valley.

During a visit to Sderot, the former justice minister discussed US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” arguing that “we have a massive opportunity to make history or miss [the ‘chance of] a century,’” to annex settlements and the Jordan Valley before the election.

Trump’s proposal allows Israel to annex the Jordan Valley and most of the settlements, comprising 30% of the West Bank. Netanyahu originally thought it would be possible to enact these annexations before the March vote, but pressure from the Trump administration made him backtrack on Tuesday.

Yamina is now applying heavy pressure to press ahead with annexation regardless, and is using the issue as a way of drawing right-wing, pro-settlement support away from Likud and to the religious-Zionist party.

“We need to apply sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley before the elections,” Shaked declared.

“The choice is between Yamina and the application [of sovereignty over the settlements] or voting for any other party and a Palestinian terror state.

“If we start applying sovereignty then we won’t get to a Palestinian state. If we start negotiating over a Palestinian state we will have Oslo III, east Jerusalem in the hands of terrorists and exploding buses.”

Shaked also made a pitch for the sectoral needs of the religious-Zionist community, saying it has specific needs “and only we will look out for those needs, for yeshivot, national service and all our great enterprises.”

Separately, Yamina MK Matan Kahana and former MK Idit Silman visited the “Sovereignty Tent” close to the Knesset in Jerusalem, to express their solidarity with the leaders of the settlement movement there who are demanding the immediate annexation of West Bank territories.

“We have come to here to the tent to give support to the Yesha [settlements] council, in order to give the prime minister strength and to take advantage of the opportunity that the US administration has given us to impose Israeli sovereignty on all the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria,” said Kahana.

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“We know that what doesn’t happen now, will likely not happen.”