Israel: Territorial concessions should require 80-MK majority. Better: No Concessions at all.

With a minimum majority of 80 votes in the Knesset, territorial concessions are to be granted in the future. This is discussed with eyes on Judea and Samaria.

In principle, this is a good thing, because a scandal like the one under the Bennett, Lapid and Gantz government must never happen again. This left-wing government squandered valuable state territory to Hezbollah in exchange for nothing. They were fobbed off with the promise that they could expect Hezbollah to behave sensibly.

Well, October 7, 2023, has shown what it is worth. Nothing. It should now be clear to even the dumbest strategists that the concept of land (or other concessions) for peace does not work. It has never worked. It will never work.

All those who adhere to this well-meaning heresy must be dismissed from service. And voters must be constantly reminded that it was left-wing appeasement politics that led to 7.10.

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, chaired by MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), convened on Wednesday for an initial debate on an initiative by the members of the Caucus for the Land of Israel.

The request written by the caucus members states that “the goal of the debate is to change the territorial applicability of the law, so that it will apply to Judea and Samaria as well, and to clarify that the geographical applicability of the law also includes the territorial waters.”

Committee Chair MK Rothman: “In the past 18 months since its inauguration, the Knesset has understood the harm and the folly of withdrawal from parts of our land. One of the first bills that passed, also at the initiative of the leaders of this caucus, was to rectify the injustice of the disengagement from northern Samaria. The events of October 7 also clarified, for anyone who still needed such clarification, the danger of a Palestinian state and the danger of handing over parts of the homeland. As a result of that understanding, the Knesset passed two resolutions by a huge majority. The first resolution approved the Government resolution saying that unilaterally forcing a Palestinian state upon the State of Israel would constitute a reward for terrorism, and this was passed by a majority of 99 Members of Knesset. In July, there was a resolution that was supported by two-thirds of the MKs, and opposed by only nine MKs. The resolution stated what is self-evident—that establishing a Palestinian state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, beyond the existential threat, is wrong, immoral, and does not connect historically with the proper path for the future.”

MK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) made an important point: “Regrettably, the existing law made an injustice, because there’s no difference between the territories within the Green Line and the territories of Judea and Samaria, they’re all an inseparable part of Eretz Israel. Just as the Knesset legislated in the past that decisions on withdrawal from sovereign parts of Israel within the Green Line would require a majority of 80 MKs, in Judea and Samaria too, the very heart of Eretz Israel, we should also require the same qualified majority.”

My 5 cents: 1. The quorum should be 100 MPs and 2. The current draft, as well-intentioned as it is, still assumes that there could be something like co-existence with the supporters of the anti-Semitic and anti-democratic ideology of “Palestinianism“. The 7/10 cut the tablecloth. I and many Israelis are not prepared to continue living side by side with these murderers. They must leave Samaria, Benyamini, Judea and Jerusalem.