Bennett: Giving Hamas money in exchange for quiet is ‘political extortion’
Bennett: Giving Hamas money in exchange for quiet is ‘political extortion
‘By JPOST.COM STAFF 08/12/2014 14:08
Bennett says money given to pay salaries to Hamas employees will be used to fund more tunnels, rockets and terror; MKs say any deal must include return of bodies of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza.
via Bennett: Giving Hamas money in exchange for quiet is ‘political extortion’ | JPost | Israel News.
As reports emerged Tuesday of a possible deal being crafted between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to end more than a month of hostilities on the Gaza front, right-wing politicians began speaking out against making concessions to Hamas.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) addressed reports that Israel was considering agreeing to a Hamas demand to pay the back salaries of thousands of its employees in Gaza. “The ‘money for Hamas in exchange for quiet’ formula is political extortion,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
“Let’s tell the truth: the money will go to terrorists who are digging [tunnels] beneath us, to those producing missiles and to the people shooting at us,” the minister warned.
Bennett argued that the Hamas “extortionists,” were essentially saying, “Pay us, and we will shoot at you later; don’t pay us, and we will shoot at you now.”
He said that the “money to terrorists in exchange for quiet” formula would allow Hamas to recuperate after Operation Protective Edge and rearm itself for the next round of fighting.
“We can’t fight Hamas with one hand and fund them with the other,” he argued.
Bennett said that he was fighting to prevent Israel from agreeing to such cease-fire terms in the security cabinet’s discussions of the issues and he called on the other government ministers to do the same.
“You don’t pay Hamas, you defeat them,” he stated.
Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said that the emerging truce deal would “cancel out all the achievements of Operation Protective Edge and turn Hamas into the victor.”
She said that rather than give Hamas more benefits, Israel should worsen conditions in Gaza immediately. Hotovely called for Israel to halt shipments of goods to Gaza and to stop supplying electricity to the Strip.
Likud MK Miri Regev said that any cease-fire deal would have to require Hamas to return the bodies of St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin, the two IDF soldiers killed in Gaza whose place of burial remains unknown. She said that an agreement would also have to include the understanding that Hamas will be held responsible for all rocket fire from Gaza and expect a heavier response from Israel to the fire.
Bayit Yehudi MK Orit Struck said that Israel “must staunchly oppose any deal that allows for money and building materials to enter Gaza without tight supervision that will completely prevent the development of new tunnels, weapons and terror.”
Struck added that Israel should not agree to allow any salaries to be paid to Hamas employees before the bodies of the IDF soldiers are returned.
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