“I understand the pain, but we must not take the law into our hands,” said National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir.

By World Israel News Staff

Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Zvika Fogel told Army Radio Monday morning that he agreed with the settlers who rampaged the Palestinian village of Huwara Sunday night, hours after the deadly terrorist attack that claimed the lives of Hillel Menachem Yaniv, 22, and his brother Yagel Yaakov, 19.

Cars and homes were torched and a number of residents were hurt. During clashes that ensued, one Palestinian was killed.

“What residents of Judea and Samaria did last night in Huwara was to create the strongest deterrent the State of Israel has had since Defensive Shield,” Fogel said in the interview, referring to the 2002 IDF counterterrorism operation across the Palestinian Authority.

“After murders like those yesterday, when the army doesn’t take action, villages need to burn,” he said.

After the terror attack, residents of Huwara and the surrounding area handed out sweets in celebration of the murder of the Yaniv brothers.

“Huwara should be shuttered and burned. That is what I want to see. That is the only way we will attain deterrence,” Fogel said.

“If we stop settling, we won’t gain sovereignty,” he added.

“I want to restore security to the people of the State of Israel. How do we do that? We have to get rid of the word ‘proportional;’ we have to rid ourselves of the lack will to use collective punishment just because it isn’t fitting according to all sorts of courts. It’s time for the gloves to come off.”

Davidi Ben Zion, deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, concurred.

“Here in Huwara the blood of our children was spilled on the road. Huwara needs to be wiped out today. Enough talk about building and strengthening the settlements. The deterrence that was lost must return now, there’s no room for mercy,” he tweeted.

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, however, condemned the vigilante response.

“The terrorists must be crushed, and it is time to return to the targeted threats and eliminate the leaders of the inciting terrorist organization, he said.  “I understand the pain, but we must not take the law into our own hands. The one who needs to deal with terrorism and deter it is the Israeli government and not the citizens.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog called on Israelis not to take the law into their own hands.

“The IDF and the security forces are currently in pursuit of the murderer. We will find him, we will capture him and we will come to terms with him,” Netanyahu said.

“I ask even when the blood is hot and the spirits are hot – not to take the law into your own hands. I ask to let the IDF and the security forces do their job. I remind you that in the last few weeks they have eliminated dozens of terrorists and prevented dozens of terrorist attacks. Let the IDF complete the pursuit, do not take the law into your hands – and together we will defeat terrorism.”

Sunday’s terror attack was carried out just hours after Israeli officials took part in an emergency summit in Aqaba, Jordan, aimed at lower tensions in the region. It was the second time within weeks that a family lost two sons in a terror attack.

Eight-year-old Asher Paley and his six-year-old brother Yaakov were murdered along with newly-wed chassid Shlomo Alter Lederman by a terrorist who rammed into a bus stop in Jerusalem on February 10th. Another brother was lightly injured; their father was seriously hurt in the attack and remains in hospital.

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New row pits Likud and ultra-Orthodox parties against Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

After weeks of wrangling over coalition negotiations, Israel’s 37th government is finally in place — however, not all disputes have been settled, and a new row now threatens coalition unity.

The question is that of the appointment of MK Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Ta’al party and a member of the opposition, as deputy speaker of the Knesset.

According to Israeli law, there may be up to seven deputy speakers of the Knesset, but the position is still considered an important one, as deputies frequently step in for the Speaker during Knesset debates. Predictably, Tibi’s appointment is being opposed by the Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties, which label him a supporter of terrorism.

“My vote will not go to benefit Ahmad Tibi, a man who supports terrorism and who was Arafat’s deputy,” Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel told Radio 103FM on Sunday.

“There’s no way that my vote will contribute to his appointment to such a senior position. If it had been a different Arab [Knesset] member who recognized the right of the State to exist as a Jewish state, he would probably have won my vote.

“If it were up to me,” he added, “Tibi would not be serving in the Knesset at all. Our enemies should not be allowed within the Knesset.”

Indeed, the appointment of another Arab MK, Mansour Abbas of the United Arab List (Ra’am) party, as Deputy Speaker in 2020 passed peacefully. At the time, Abbas, whose party later joined the Bennett-Lapid government, stressed that he was in favor of cooperating with all Knesset members “as a matter of principle,” as the parties “represent Israeli society, and I accept the democratic choices of Jewish-Israeli society, just like I ask Jewish-Israeli society to accept the choices of Arab-Israeli society.”

Tibi, however, has been consistently outspoken in denying Israel’s legitimacy as a democratic or a Jewish state. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of Otzma Yehudit, has frequently clashed with the anti-Israel MK, at least on one occasion regarding the latter’s position (since 2006) as deputy speaker.

In July 2021, Ben-Gvir ascended to the Knesset podium during a debate chaired by Tibi as deputy speaker and began his speech by saying: “With the permission of the Knesset Speaker, Mr. Minister, your excellency,” excluding Tibi from the list.

When Tibi interrupted Ben-Gvir, demanding to be addressed as “Mr. Deputy Speaker,” as is customary, Ben-Gvir refused. “You are a terrorist, not a ‘sir’ or a ‘mister.’ You should be in the Syrian Parliament, not here,” he said.

Tibi then ordered Knesset ushers to remove Ben-Gvir first from the podium and then from the plenum; Ben-Gvir had to be physically dragged away.

In June of this year, Tibi and another Arab MK, Osama Saadi, charged at Ben-Gvir on the Knesset floor over his proposal to implement the death penalty for terrorists. An usher physically held them back.

On other occasions, Tibi was among lawmakers who attacked a police officer, helped a rioter evade arrest, and made statements that are likely considered incitement under Israeli law.

‘We came here to rule’

According to a report on Israel’s Hebrew-language Channel 12, the Likud party, headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, favors keeping Tibi on as deputy speaker, as do the haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) parties, which have, according to Channel 12, a longstanding policy of an “alliance of minorities” between Arabs and haredim in the Knesset.

However, one Likud MK is attempting to sway her fellow party members to abstain from voting for Tibi (as voting against appointments to speaker positions is not customary). Tally Gotliv appealed to fellow Likud lawmakers “not to vote for Ahmad Tibi for the position of Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, [a man who was] the close advisor of the mass murderer Arafat and who treats us, as right-wingers, with disdain and hatred.”

“We came here to rule. We came here to form a stable and strong right-wing government, not to vote for Ahmad Tibi,” she stated.

Knesset laws require speakers to be non-partisan, although they do vote in the plenum. Speakers, according to Knesset bylaws, “manage the business of the Knesset, represent it to the outside world, protect its dignity, maintain order at its sessions, and make sure that its bylaws are followed. [They] preside over Knesset sessions, conduct them, put questions to a vote and determine the result, as well as the result of all elections that take place in the Knesset.”

In addition, if for whatever reason the position of President of the State of Israel is vacant, it is the Knesset speaker who steps in to serve as interim president.

Speakers also have the power to “refuse to approve for debate bills that, in their opinion, are racist in their essence or that reject the existence of the State of Israel as the State of the Jewish People.”

This amendment to a bylaw was put in place in 1984, after a Knesset speaker disqualified a bill submitted by the now-defunct Kach party, led by late MK Meir Kahane, on the grounds that it was “racist.” Kahane appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor and established that Knesset speakers do not have the authority to disqualify bills due to their content.

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“I didn’t expect anyone at the UN to lift a finger to help the State of Israel,” says Otzma Yehudit MK.

By World Israel News Staff

Following a vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday requesting a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague on the so-called “occupied territories,” Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel asserted that, “As of this moment, the occupation is permanent.”

Eighty-seven UN members voted in favor of forwarding the request to the ICJ, with 26 voting against and 53 abstentions. The wording of the request asks the ICJ to give its advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement, and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.”

Israel has not annexed any of the areas it captured during the Six-Day War, and the UN request to the ICJ seeks a clarification on whether the “occupation” is to be regarded as a temporary situation that Israel intends to resolve in final-status negotiations, or whether the situation is de facto annexation.

“I very much hope that Israel will understand how to protect her rights in the areas where we can annex and settle,” Fogel told Radio 103FM on Sunday. “I don’t expect anyone at the United Nations to lift a finger to help the State of Israel.

“I want to continue to legally annex everywhere I can,” he continued, “in order to exercise sovereignty over all the legally held territories in the state. I can’t fight facts, but as of this moment, the occupation is permanent.”

Fogel, a first-time Knesset member for the Otzma Yehudit party headed by MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, is a former brigadier-general in the IDF who headed the Southern Command, which covers the Gaza area and beyond.

However, it is Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s party, Religious Zionism, which is likely to have more influence over the new government’s policy in Judea and Samaria. Smotrich was appointed to the newly created position of minister within the Defense Ministry with authority over the Civil Administration, the de facto government of Judea and Samaria.

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