Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting settler leaders, December 26, 2018. (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Israeli Left of colluding with the media to topple his government and remove Israeli settlements in the West Bank, at the beginning of a meeting with settler leaders in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning
“In the upcoming elections we will see an effort by the Left to accomplish an ‘electoral revolution,’ with the aid of the media and other forces,” Netanyahu said. “They are entirely invested in this effort. But they cannot succeed — if they do it will put the settlement movement in grave danger.”
“We must win the upcoming election,” the prime minister said. “This is a battle over our home. The fate of the state and the settlements is not self-evident.”
“We also have hard work to do with the current US administration in order to continue to bring about the great achievements we have brought to the settlements,” Netanyahu added. “This is not guaranteed, because later on, under a leftist government, everything could be reversed in a moment.”
Netanyahu met with the settler leaders just two days after announcing early elections, which will be held on April 9. The perception that he strongly supports the settlements is critical for his re-election campaign.
But he heads into the elections at a particularly stormy moment in his ties with settler leaders who want him to do more to ensure their security, particularly in the wake of three terror attacks earlier this month.
Three settler leaders said they planned to boycott the Netanyahu meeting: Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz and Kiryat Arba Council head Eliyahu Libman.
In a letter to the prime minister, the three said they were upset that he had failed to restore NIS 400 million in budget cuts for security. They also asked him to restore the road blocks he had removed in the West Bank and to take significant new measures in support of new settlement building.
Prior to the meeting, the Yesha Council said that it had no intention of boycotting the meeting. It added that it planned to present Netanyahu with its demands and that it expected he would address their concerns.
The meeting ended with no conclusive results.
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