Bennett echoes Bibi of old on Iran and unity, not haredim

“At the start of the first cabinet meeting of the new government, I want to stress three things that will guide us: unity, responsibility and work,” the new prime minister said as he chaired his first cabinet meeting.

“This government is a true government of unity,” he continued. “It was established out of a sense of heavy responsibility to deal with urgent security, economic and social challenges facing Israel, and for that reason, we are getting right to work.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the start of his first cabinet meeting on Sunday? No, those words were spoken by Benjamin Netanyahu when he chaired his first cabinet meeting after returning to the prime minister’s seat in 2009 after a decade’s hiatus.

What is so striking about Netanyahu’s words at the first cabinet meeting of the 32nd government is how similar they were to Bennett’s opening comments on Sunday to the country’s 36th government.

“We are getting underway. Each minister has already begun to work,” Bennett said, sitting in the prime minister’s chair at the head of the cabinet table on Sunday, the first time a prime minister other than Netanyahu led the cabinet

“It is our duty to do everything legally passive to stop the savage Arab invasion of Area C to stifle Jewish settlement and establish facts on the ground,” settler leaders said in a joint statement and called on their supporters to join the marches set for 4:30 p.m. “Together we will head out to explore the area, to occupy the space with our feet and demand that the authorities enforce the law in the area out of a deep belief that this land is ours.”

The marches will take place in all regions of the West Bank, including places with illegal Palestinian construction that the Right wants dismantled, such as Khan al-Ahmar, and illegal Jewish building that the Right wants authorized, such as the Evyatar outpost.

It is the largest settler initiative since its failed campaign to legalize West Bank outposts.

The marches are the latest phase of the grassroots battle in Area C of the West Bank, which is under IDF military and civilian control. Palestinians believe it is part of their future state, while the Israeli Right maintains it should be part of its sovereign borders.

Both groups believe the territory they settle and/or control will determine future sovereignty over the area. •