PM: I won’t let a Jew be uprooted from home

Goal is to double Jewish settlement this decade, says Katz

“As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, not a single Jew will be uprooted from his home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday at the dedication of a new interchange in the West Bank on Tuesday.

Not only will no Jewish homes be uprooted from Judea and Samaria, he said at the ceremony near Geva Binyamin in the Binyamin region, but more homes will be built.

Channeling the Jewish biblical claim to Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu said, “Here in this place where our forefathers [walked] thousands of years ago, names like Geva Binyamin, Michmas, Ofra and Anatot take us straight to the days of the Bible. These are places that are at the heart of our history 3,000 years ago – the

Kingdom of Saul and then the Kingdom of Judah. These places come straight from the Bible to the heart of our homeland, and we will continue to strengthen the settlement there.”

Netanyahu, who was accompanied at the ceremony by Transportation Minister Israel Katz, said the interchange sends a “tremendous message” to the residents of the area because it will significantly ease traffic from the settlements in Samaria on Route 60 to and from Jerusalem.

“We are not stopping here,” he said. “We will complete the construction of bypass roads, widening lanes, improving infrastructures. There are two aspects here: transportation and security combined.”

Netanyahu began his statements by relating to Sunday night’s terrorist attack near Ofra, sending wishes for a complete recovery to Shira Ish-ran and her infant son, who is fighting for his life.

“This act of terror, like others, shows the depth of our enemies’ hatred of us, Jews and Israelis,” he said. “They have no moral inhibitions when they come to harm innocents. We will chase those responsible for the attack and make them pay. We will prove to them that their desire to uproot us from our land will meet a fortified wall. They want to uproot us from here, but they will not do so.”

Katz said the “upgrading of infrastructure in Judea and Samaria will give a big push to the development of Jewish communities in the Jerusalem area,” similar to what infrastructure development has done for the Negev and Galilee. He said the goal is to “double” Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria in a decade. •