Ayelet Shaked demands gov't halt PA transfer of funds to terrorists

Yamina leader insists Gush Etzion be annexed while Trump still in White House

By JEREMY SHARON
New Right leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked at the sight where a terrorist killed Dvir Sorek in West Bank (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
New Right leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked at the sight where a terrorist killed Dvir Sorek in West Bank
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Speaking at the site where Dvir Sorek was murdered earlier this month in a terrorist attack, Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked demanded that the government act to stop the transfer of payments to convicted terrorists by the Palestinian Authority.
She said that the government needed to “uproot the motivation for terrorists to murder Jews,” specifically the financial support given to such terrorists and their families by the Palestinian Authority.
Both Shaked and senior party official Naftali Bennett also insisted that the government annex the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements where Sorek was stabbed to death, something they said should be done regardless of the terrorist attack, and a step which should be carried out while US President Donald Trump is still in office because of his supportive stance to Israel.
“We spoke at endless cabinet meetings about the need to stop the flow of money to the families of terrorists and to the terrorists in jails,” Shaked said at a news conference held between the settlements of Efrat and Migdal Oz where Sorek was killed. “Today a terrorist who carries out a murder knows that he will become a rich man and so will his family.”
She said a recent law that was passed only deducts money due to be transferred by Israel to the Palestinian Authority, but does not stop the PA from actually transferring the money to the terrorists and their families.
Shaked said that the State of Israel, “which knows how to stop a nuclear [program] archive in Iran, can also manage to stop the transfer of this money. It’s just a matter of deciding, and of determination and priorities.”
In addition, the Yamina head said that the law allowing for house demolitions of terrorists and their families also has a provision that can prevent the land on which the house stood from being used to rebuild the residence.
Shaked said that this law was not being enforced, and that families have swiftly rebuilt their homes.
“We need to enforce this and a whole raft of measures... in order to uproot the motivation to carry out terrorism attacks,” she said.
Bennett noted that “Israel’s deterrence has been eroded and is becoming weaker,” and that terrorists were becoming more and more daring every day.
“At the moment, terrorists are firing missiles from Gaza onto Israeli citizens, stabbing Israeli citizens in Jerusalem, and ramming Israeli citizens in Gush Etzion,” he said. “This is not how deterrence looks.”
Bennett promised “a series of offensive measures” against terrorist activity.
Speaking about the possible annexation of the Gush Etzion region, Shaked said such a measure should be taken regardless of Sorek’s murder.
“This must not be done through a private members bill but through a government decision,” said Shaked. “Gush Etzion is in the consensus and is a part of the State of Israel. We don’t need to wait for terrorist attacks to do this [annex it], but we definitely do need to do it, and we need to take advantage of the fact that we have a supportive president in the White House, and impose Israeli law on Gush Etzion.”
Said Bennett, “If we relate to parts of the Land of Israel as second class, we should not be surprised that the enemy does too. For sure, the time has come that the land we are standing on be a sovereign part of the State of Israel. It only needs a government decision.”


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