Netanyahu claims Gantz will uproot 90,000 settlers, visits Ettinger family

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his major opponent Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz would uproot 80,000-90,000 settlers from the West Bank if he becomes the premier after the April 9th election.

“I fear there is a real danger here,” Netanyahu said during a visit he made to the Shiloh settlement together with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Yesha Council head Hananel Dorani.

“[MK Yair] Lapid and Gantz are hostage to the idea that the only way to ensure the nation’s future is to [reduce its territory] by uprooting 80,000-90,000 Jews,” Netanyahu said of the top two Blue and White politicians.

“They want us to bow our heads and hope the Arabs grant us recognition,” Netanyahu said.

It’s the second time in 24-hours that the prime minister has visited Judea and Samaria. On Monday, he stopped at the site of Sunday’s terrorist attack at the Ariel Junction that claimed the life of Staff Sgt. Gal Keidan from Beersheba and Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger, 47, a father of 12 from the Eli settlement. Netanyahu also visited the Ettinger family.

Netanyahu said that his governing policy was the opposite of Gantz and Lapid, in that he wanted to come to the Arab nations from a place of strength.

“I am working on empowering Israel in the arena of security, economics and diplomacy,” he said.

Israel has strong ties with the international community and from there it is branching out to the the Arab world. “This will take time,” he said.

The choice before the voters in this election, Netanyahu said, is whether to they want a county that he would lead from a place of strength or one that would be led by Gantz and Lapid from a place of weakness.

“The choice here is very clear,” Netanyahu said.

While in Shiloh Netanyahu and Huckabee visited the archeological park, that exhibits remains from the biblical era, including when the tabernacle was housed there when Shiloh was the first capital of Biblical Israel.

The park is on Israel’s list of National Heritage Sites and its visitor’s center is funded through that heritage program, which Netanyahu created.

“I am very excited to be here. I came here for the first time in 1967, right after the Six Day War, as a young soldier. I remember that during navigational exercises, I went to Tel Shilo to see ancient Shilo, the capital of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

“Here, it has revived. Under the heritage plan, we established here a visitor center so that every Jew and every tourist in Israel can come and see our first capital.

“This is exciting. It attests to our link with the Land of Israel and to the great wonder of the revival of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Both he and Huckabee visited the museum which is part of the park and looked ancient tiles and clay shards. They also planted trees at the site.

From there Netanyahu went to Eli and visited the Ettinger family. He told them, “The shock is enormous. From what I have heard about Achiad, he was an amazing person, a man of valor with nobility of soul. The pain over your loss is immense; I understand how deep it is. But I want you to know that it is a shock to the heart of the entire people.”

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