After uproar over Judea and Samaria budgets: Settler leaders meet with Netanyahu

December 12, 2023   

Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the Samaria Council, Yisrael Gantz, the head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, and the head of the Beit El Council, Shai Alon, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening (Monday) - this against the backdrop of the security budget crisis for Judea and Samaria. The heads of councils presented Netanyahu with the security needs and said that a state budget cannot be approved without security budgeting for the West Bank. Dagan told Netanyahu in the meeting: "It is unacceptable in any way that a state budget passes without the security budgets of the West Bank. We ask you, and we trust you to stand firm on this issue. The residents of our Judea and Samaria are in security danger, like all the rest of the regions, and even more so. They cannot be discriminated against by the national government, and even if it were not national, the government cannot discriminate against them compared to all other places. "We ask, expect, and trust you to give a clear directive - the state budget will not be approved in any way without the security budgets of the West Bank. Our residents are first in responsibilities, and they should also be equal in rights, and certainly, certainly in their right to security." The head of the Binyamin Council, Yisrael Gantz, said: "There is a political smear campaign against the settlement. There are those who think that it is logical to abandon tens of thousands of residents without security components and basic conditions for welfare and development. The responsibility of the security establishment is first and foremost the responsibility of the government to fill this gap in the budget. We are asking for basic security and appropriate conditions that come to our children, our families and the communities where about 80% of the men are currently being recruited in the south and the north and in other missions to defend the state." The head of the Beit El local council, Shai Alon, noted: "Enough with this delay that endangers the lives of thousands. I announce that if the security budget is not passed, I will move the Beit El office permanently across from the Prime Minister's residence. Just recently, dozens of terrorists were eliminated in the sector in various terrorist incidents, and now that we are in the midst of a war, are you abandoning our personal security? Strengthening the readiness classes is a drop in the ocean compared to the preparation required in the face of a terrorist infiltration or a mega-attack on one of the highways. "Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Ministry of Finance and Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Civil Administration insist on not learning the lesson from the misconceptions and are delaying the transfer of the budget to protect the lives of the residents. What are we talking about here? To what normal person does this behavior sound reasonable to anyone present here?" Alon wondered. This morning, a number of heads of councils from Judea and Samaria arrived at the Knesset Finance Committee. They demanded that the committee members not vote on the state budget without the security components in Judea and Samaria. In response, MKs from the left began attacking the heads of councils and chaos broke out in the place. The discussion was attended by the head of the Binyamin Council Yisrael Gantz, the head of the Samaria Council Yossi Dagan, the head of the Gush Etzion Council Shlomo Ne'eman, the head of the Beit El Council Shai Alon and the head of the Mount Hebron Council Yohai Damri. Samaria Council Chairman Yossi Dagan said in the debate: "The blood of my residents is no less red than the blood of the residents of Metula and Zerait. It is an unprecedented scandal that politicians are literally drinking our blood, after my residents went and sacrificed their lives like the entire people of Israel." Council Chairman Binyamin Yisrael Gantz said in the debate: "These are security components that will protect thousands of families. We demand protection for the home! It is forbidden to vote on the budget without security approvals for Judea and Samaria." Gush Etzion Bloc Council Chairman Shlomo Ne'eman added: "We cannot beg! We have not received a shekel since the beginning of the war. We ourselves have fulfilled our security needs, we ourselves have purchased helmets. We are asking the right and the left to take responsibility for our citizens, who are citizens of the entire country.".