Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed this afternoon (Monday) at the Likud faction meeting in the Knesset the criticism leveled at his government after the evacuation of the 'Or Haim' outpost on Friday and again on Sunday
"We support the settlements. We doubled the settlement [population] during very difficult years. Under the previous government there was a total rampage of illegal Palestinian construction in Area C. They did nothing, turned a blind eye and took no action. Now we came to power with a clear promise to start changing direction, To fight against the illegal Palestinian construction, and we have started. But two years are not fixed in two days, there is no such thing, but there has been a start and it is important," Netanyahu began.
He stated: "This does not mean that we will allow illegal Israeli construction. We had a meeting of the heads of the coalition and there was agreement from wall to wall on these two principles. We will not accept a situation where 'every man does what is right in his own eyes,' because that would lead to a complete loss of control. This agreement negates the hope of our political opponents that there would be something here leading to the disintegration of the government - we are cohesive, strong and united, also in this matter."
Netanyahu also referred to the demand for the evacuation of the illegal Bedouin outpost of Khan al-Ahmar: "We cannot let anyone do what is right in his own eyes. Khan al-Ahmar is a special case. Bennett and Shaked said: 'We will dismantle him on the first day in power.' It is a little more complicated than that and we will have to work on the issue in the coming days."
He responded to protests and demonstrations led by the opposition. "We stand united and united against a tsunami of spins. A tsunami of false media mobilization that is hard to believe is happening in a democratic country. They say we are destroying democracy. No, we are saving democracy. I also refer you to the important newspaper in the US, the Wall Street Journal, which explains how what is happening in Israel does not happen anywhere else in the world. They say - there is no balance here. The essence of democracy is majority rule and protection of individual rights. The way to ensure this is a balance between the branches of government. In Israel this balance has been seriously violated in the last 25 years. Was Israel not democratic 30 years ago? Is Britain not a democracy? This distortion is something we have to deal with. And now there is a new thing, not only are we destroying democracy, we are also destroying the economy. As if we were harmed by property rights, by honoring contracts - what an absurdity. It is also absurd for another reason, because by all indications Israel's economy is proving to be strong."
"We lead a strong economic policy, one of the strongest in the world. We made a tremendous economic revolution, so we will not be preached to with ridiculous spins. I have news for you: we will beat these spins as well," Netanyahu concluded.