Gantz implies he would renew assassination policy

Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz hit out strongly at the interim government for what he described as its inaction over repeated incidents of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip against southern Israel, after a barrage of rockets was fired from the coastal enclave by Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Friday night.

Gantz also implied that he would renew Israel’s former policy of assassinations against the senior terrorist leaders should he become prime minister.

“A government which I head will not tolerate a threat against southern residents, and will not accept any injury to Israeli sovereignty,” Gantz said in a tweet Saturday night.

“We will restore deterrence at any price, even if we need to harm those personally who are leading the escalation,” said Gantz in an apparent reference to the heads of the various Gazan terrorist groups. “At this time, we will support and back any policy of determined and responsible response [to the rocket attacks] in order to bring longterm quiet to southern residents. This is our

obligation and our commitment to them.”

Yisrael Beytenu leader and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman denounced what he described as “a policy of surrender by the government to the terrorist organizations in Gaza,” which he said resulted in incidents like Friday night’s rocket barrage.

“Riots on the [Gaza border] fence have turned into something routine on Friday afternoon... Someone who tolerates riots and disorder on Friday afternoon will get rockets on Friday night. But don’t worry. The prime minister’s response is on the way. Next week already, dozens of millions of dollars will be transferred to the heads of Hamas,” Liberman railed, in reference to the cash payments from Qatar to Gaza, facilitated by Israel.

New Right co-founder MK Naftali Bennett said that Israel was in a “national crisis” following the rocket fire and that a wide-scale military operation in Gaza would soon be needed.

“The root treatment needed in Gaza won’t be possible for long, at the same time as curbing the encirclement of Iran’s missiles around Israel,” Bennett said.

“Israel cannot have a third round of elections, which will silence us and prevent urgent security and civilian actions. Everyone, Netanyahu and Gantz as one, must compromise and establish a government immediately,” he continued in reference to the current stalemate in the establishment of a coalition government following September’s election.

Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar, and the most likely challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the party’s leadership, was also critical of the government’s approach to Gaza, but said that the problem required the swift formation of a unity government.

“There should be a much more severe response than has been taken to the rocket fire on Sderot, and the attack on its residents,” he tweeted on Saturday night. “Israel’s goal should be the dismantling of the military infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. This is one of the important reasons why the political crisis must be ended as soon as possible, and a broad national unity government established.” •