Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday called for Israel to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria and dismantle the Palestinian Authority, saying the territory poses an existential threat to the Jewish state.
Speaking to JNS at a Religious Zionist Party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Smotrich said the upcoming meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump should focus on establishing "defensible borders" on three fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, and Judea and Samaria.
Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry overseeing civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, said Israel must take steps to prevent a repeat of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
"Judea and Samaria is right in the heart of Israel. We will not know how to live next door to a terror state. We must exit the 'corrals' [a pen that confines livestock ahead of their slaughter] of the Oslo Accords, prepare to apply Israeli sovereignty, dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect all the weapons there and ensure we don't get an Oct. 7 in Judea and Samaria. It's very dangerous. That, in my view, is the objective of the trip," the minister said.
While praising achievements against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Smotrich said neither group has been destroyed and threats remain on all fronts.
He and Netanyahu were discussing the Trump meeting and "will continue to talk," he said.
Netanyahu is preparing for his sixth meeting with Trump, scheduled for Dec. 29 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
This JNS.org report was republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.
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