Right-wing MK calls for collapse of Palestinian Authority

A leading member of the Jewish Home list running in the April parliamentary election says that PA incitement has resulted in more deaths recently than Hamas. 

By World Israel News Staff

MK Bezalel Smotrich is calling for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA), saying that its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, is “no better” than Hamas.

Reacting to a deadly terror attack in Samaria on Sunday, Smotrich said on Twitter that “the Palestinian Authority, supporting and encouraging terror, must be brought down, not maintained.”

The PA was formed as part of the Oslo process in the 1990s, which granted self-rule to Arabs in Judea and Samaria. The ultimate aim was the establishment of a Palestinian state but it never materialized amid massive Palestinian terror. The process was named after the Norwegian capital where secret talks were said to have led to the establishment of the diplomatic process.

“The Oslo concept which turned the PA into a contractor to execute the fight against terror for the IDF is costing us with much blood and the time has come for us to release ourselves from it,” Smotrich tweeted.

Smotrich is the leader of the National Union party, one of the factions making up the Jewish Home list running in the April 9 Knesset election.

Abbas “is no better than Hamas,” he asserted, adding that “lately, we’ve had more people killed from his incitement than from Hamas operations.”

Why slow IDF response to attack

Smotrich also referred to the debate that has erupted over whether putting soldiers on trial when excessive force is alleged prompts the military to show greater restraint or discourages soldiers from acting to save innocent lives, including their own. The debate came to the fore during the trial of Elor Azaria, who was convicted for shooting a terrorist who had already been restrained.

Smotrich posted a report on his Twitter account saying that the IDF was looking into why armed soldiers stationed at the Ariel junction did not respond and try to neutralize the terrorist who carried out Sunday’s attack after the weapon of one of their comrades was snatched by the attacker. According to the report, eyewitnesses said that no shots were fired toward the terrorist over the course of several minutes.

The MK maintained that the plethora of military trials was to blame. He warned that as long as the opponents of putting such soldiers on trial are not allowed to speak out, people will instead have to “continue to die quietly” because facing potential legal proceedings, soldiers are afraid to act.