Sunday, October 8, 2017

'Netanyahu missed a historic opportunity'

Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, who now heads the Zehut party, reacted to US President Donald Trump’s statements about “[giving] peace a shot” before moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
 
According to Feiglin, “Israel doesn’t want to unify Jerusalem. Netanyahu says one thing, but all of his actions say that he is afraid. Netanyahu removed the metal detectors on the Temple Mount because the Arabs pressed on exactly the right point - they threatened to leave him the Temple Mount.”
 
“Netanyahu is the historic successor of the leftist governments that gave up eastern Jerusalem,” Feiglin claimed. “He is the successor of Ben Gurion, who retreated from the Old City and allowed the Jordanians to take it. He is the successor of [Moshe] Dayan, who gave the Waqf the Temple Mount after the victory in the Six-Day War.”
 
“Netanyahu, like his predecessors, decided to lose, and begged the Arabs to return to the Temple Mount after they murdered two policemen. Netanyahu gave up on the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem even before the process took form.”
 
Feiglin added, “Both the Knesset Speaker and the most senior sources in the US said explicitly that Netanyahu is the one who prevented Trump from transferring the embassy. For those who understand that a truly united Jerusalem - and not just on paper - is an intolerable burden on the current leadership, there is no surprise here.”
 
“Yet again, we missed a historic opportunity to unite Jerusalem, with the backing of the most sympathetic White House in years. Sorrow for the generations,” Feiglin said, referencing an expression from traditional Torah commentary about the “sin of the spies” related in the Book of Numbers.