Likudniks bash former MKs for lobbying against Trump plan
Current and former Likud Knesset members criticized an initiative by a group of 25 left-wing former MKs to lobby members of the US Congress against US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, especially its clauses on applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
The letter was initiated by former Zionist Union MK Ksenia Svetlova on behalf of the Israeli Peace Parliament, a group of left-wing and centrist former politicians based in Tel Aviv that works to promote the two-state solution together with a similar organization of former Palestinian politicians in Ramallah. Former Labor MK Colette Avital, who signed the letter, said she lobbied Congress because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes the views of Congress very seriously and it was another channel to fight the plan in addition to pressuring Israeli lawmakers.
“We write to you as former Israeli lawmakers and members of the Israeli Peace Parliament to express our sincere opposition to the Israeli government’s proposed unilateral annexation of the West Bank,” they wrote. “We believe that annexation is severely detrimental to Israel’s security, Israeli democracy, Palestinian rights and regional stability.
If Israel continues down this path, it will threaten Israel’s democracy, undermine its critical relationships with democratic countries abroad and significantly alter Israel’s standing in the world.”
The politicians warned in the letter that unilateral annexation would infringe upon Palestinian human rights.
“In order to safeguard Israel’s future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people and to preserve hope for a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is imperative that we speak out against unilateral annexation,” they wrote. “Whether this move will take form in a government decision or through legislation in the Knesset, it will inevitably create an unfathomable reality of apartheid in Israel.”
The letter concluded with praise for Trump critics in the United States who have condemned his Middle East plan.
“At this critical moment, we support and are grateful for our American allies who are speaking out against unilateral annexation,” they wrote.
“Your expressions of concern and care for a treasured ally and for the vital US-Israel bipartisan relationship are deeply appreciated.”
Besides Avital and Svetlova, the signatories include former Labor MKs Hilik Bar and Ophir Pines-Paz and former Meretz MKs Zehava Gal-On and Naomi Chazan.
Likud MK Sharren Haskel, a deputy Knesset speaker, accused the left-wing politicians of hypocrisy.
“When Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a speech in Congress against the Iranian nuclear deal, those same Knesset members cried against it, claiming the prime minister doesn’t understand diplomacy,” she said. “They were wrong then. They are wrong now.”
Likud MK Shlomo Karhi said the left-wing politicians were “representing Israel’s enemies” and that Israel would apply sovereignty despite them.
Former Likud MK Yehudah Glick, who had to renounce his US citizenship when he was elected to the Knesset, said Congress was the wrong place for his fellow former MKs to do their lobbying.
“Legally this is permitted, but morally I think that it is quite weird that people who cannot promote their political policies and aspirations in Israel go to Congress and try to influence the world to put pressure on Israel’s legitimate government, a government has a very wide support base,” he said.