Gideon Sa’ar said the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza must be dismantled.
By World Israel News Staff
Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar, considered by many to be the potential successor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted his opinion on Sunday of what should be done to take care of terrorist violence emanating from Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
“The response to the shooting on Sderot and its residents should be far more acute than that taken,” Sa’ar tweeted.
“Israel’s goal should be the dismantling of Hamas’s military infrastructure and Islamic jihad in Gaza. It’s one of the significant reasons why it is necessary to end the political crisis as soon as possible and to establish a broad national unity government,” he wrote.
Sa’ar, who served at one time as education minister and minister of interior affairs in a Netanyahu-led government, stepped away from politics for a time until he returned last year. One reason given by pundits for his departure was that he had fallen out with Netanyahu, who began to view him as a potential rival for the prime minister’s office.
It’s not clear if Netanyahu will consider Sa’ar’s comments a challenge to his strategy vis a vis rocket attacks from Gaza. According to reports, Netanyahu is avoiding an escalation in the south of the country in order to focus on what he views as the greater threat from the north, where Iran is attempting to entrench along Israel’s border.
Netanyahu is politically vulnerable on the issue of ongoing attacks from the Strip. Known as “Mr. Defense,” he hasn’t lived up to the moniker in the eyes of many Israelis, especially in the south, who have borne the brunt of Gaza’s terror rockets.
On Saturday night at a rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said, “We will restore deterrence and we will know how to fight.”