Lapid: We need to pursue the world's terrorist leaders and eliminate them

September 8, 2014   

The Herzliya conference, organized by the Institute for Counterterrorism Policy, opened this morning, and as usual, provides a host of statements from senior state officials.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid referred to the 2015 budget in his speech and repeated his words that taxes would not be raised. ""If anyone thinks I will pass a budget that will screw the middle class again," said Lapid, "they probably don't understand why I entered political life. "Today, we have the opportunity to bring to the Knesset and the government a budget without raising taxes, which will provide growth opportunities, increase the disposable income of the middle class, expand assistance to the weaker sections, promote in-depth measures to assist small businesses, lower housing prices and jumpstart industry.""

Lapid linked the political issue with the economic one, saying: "Political paralysis will force us to continue to choose between security and economics, and in the end we will get both less security and less economy.""   

He said, "It is impossible to accept the absence of a political process. The notion that there is no reconstruction for Gaza without denuclearization has been put aside on the grounds that it is impossible. It is possible. The role of the leadership is not to postpone the end. What we need to reach is a regional solution, within the framework of which a demilitarized Palestinian state will be established - including a demilitarized Gaza - alongside the State of Israel. The political process is stalled, and the regional conference is currently the only idea on the table.".

He added that "the Prime Minister should know that if he goes to such a conference, he will have very broad political backing from us, which will allow him to deal with the handcuffs that the extreme right is trying to put on him.".

Referring to relations with the US, Lapid said: "Relations with the Americans must be restored to normal. They continue to give us military and diplomatic support, but the moment is approaching when they will get tired of waking up in the morning and discovering that we annexed 4,000 dunams in Judea and Samaria and issued tenders in Elkana without bothering to inform them. In my conversations with government officials, the same sentence is repeated: 'This is not how friends behave.'".

Lapid referred to the terrorist organizations located on the country's borders: "We have the strongest army in the Middle East, we have better spot intelligence today than ever before, and we need to pursue the leaders of terrorism everywhere in the world and eliminate them. We must also embark on a more determined struggle against the money trail of terrorism. It must be remembered that there are elements with whom it is forbidden to negotiate except through the sight of a rifle, or better through the optical sight of a guided missile.".

Earlier, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni spoke at the conference, saying: "The mistake is that the operation did not end with a series of international agreements that are common to us, the international community, the moderate Arab states and the Palestinian Authority, and with the renewal of negotiations.""

According to her, "Our military power has weakened Hamas, but we need to weaken it even more, and the complementary political act is what should replace them as the government," Livni added.

""The point of what's left of the operation shouldn't be - why didn't we use more force? Because that would have led to the same result. What is needed is the diplomatic habit, not to give Hamas something more, but to make a new order in Gaza. In this way, not only are we providing a solution for Gaza, it could have and still can change Israel's status and its being part of a new coalition that is dealing with the Islamist threats in the region.".

The conference was opened by former President Shimon Peres, who said: "You must not compare terrorism to war, they are two completely different issues. In war there are two armies, one fighting the other, one winning, one losing. War is seen differently by everyone. Every victory is temporary, unless all the soldiers on the other side are killed.". ""We evacuated Gaza, it was free, why did they start shooting? What is the reason?", Peres wondered, "In Gaza there is not one terrorist organization but four or five, there are also struggles between the organizations." At the same time, Peres emphasized, "Just as there is a terrorist camp in the Arab world, there is also a peace camp. Abu Mazen He said sentences that put his life in danger, he said, 'I am from Safed, but I will not return to Safed,' he also said that Israel is an Israeli state and that Israeliness cannot be taken away from it.".

Additional senior figures in politics and the defense establishment will speak at the conference.