A convoy has set out from Itamar to Be’er Sheva via Jerusalem, calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to dismiss his Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, for his anti-settlement stance and the deteriorating security situation.
The campaign is being organized by the Joint Task Force of the Binyamin and Shomron Residents Committees, and the Komemiyut (Upright!) organization.
Last week, the public efforts to have Barak dismissed featured internet ads calling upon Netanyahu not to be weak and to assert his authority over the Labor Party leader. Barak’s left-wing Independence party has only five MKs – it broke away from Labor two months ago – and yet he enjoys the prestigious and powerful position of Defense Minister, while several of his colleagues are Cabinet ministers. The general consensus is that Barak is wielding far more influence than his public support would net him.
As Defense Minister, Barak essentially heads the regime that governs Judea and Samaria, areas that have not been annexed to Israel and are under the formal control of the Israeli Defense Forces. Barak therefore has the right to withhold his signature on all new construction – and has exercised this right broadly, rendering many Jewish areas technically “illegal.”
In addition, Barak has often ordered the security forces to violently evacuate and destroy Jewish neighborhoods throughout Judea and Samaria.
In the previous elections two years ago, the Likud received only 27 Knesset seats – one fewer than Kadima. However, because the nationalist camp in general received many Knesset seats, the Likud was able to form the government that Kadima was unable to form. It is therefore in the merit of the nationalist camp in its entirety that Netanyahu is now prime minister – and its members have not received a satisfactory explanation as to why he allows Barak to administer a left-wing policy in a government that the nationalist public voted into office.
The convoy calling on Netanyahu to fire Barak left the Shomron town of Itamar, where the massacre of the Fogel family took place 13 days ago, at noon today. Passing by Tapuach, Shilo, Ofrah, and Adam, its next stop was Binyanei HaUmah in Jerusalem – the site of yesterday’s murderous bombing. It was then scheduled to continue to Be’er Sheva, where Hamas-fired rockets have led to the temporary closing of schools.
Benny Katzover, a long-time veteran Yesha leader and organizer of the current campaign, told Arutz-7, “Cars in the convoy are from Jerusalem, Sha'alvim, Sderot, Even Shmuel, and elsewhere, and we invite citizens to stand by the roadside as we pass by and join up or otherwise show support… We will continue this campaign until the message has been received by all those who have any influence in the matter.”
Activists will stand outside the homes of six Likud Cabinet ministers in the coming days in an attempt to influence them as well. Over 100 activists stood outside Barak’s luxury apartment in Akirov Towers in Tel Aviv last week, dressed as Yassam police officers and protesting the police violence in the recent destruction/eviction at Gilad Farm.