Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) fired back at claims made by former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin, who made remarks Wednesday supporting a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and advocating a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority.
In a post on his Facebook page entitled "The Generals Say," Bennett began with an analysis of the current claim. "There are generals who say we need an agreement with the Palestinians, otherwise we will not survive, and that it is more important than preventing Iran from going nuclear," he stated, in a veiled reference to Diskin.
He then refuted Diskin's claims with historical evidence that similar tactics have failed.
He first referenced the Second Intifada. "Those same generals said that if we withdraw from the cities of Judea and Samaria in Oslo, we will get security, and instead we received over 1,000 deaths in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem."
Bennett then referenced the 2005 Disengagement plan, which saw over 9,000 Israeli expelled from their homes and businesses. "Those same generals said that if we give away Gaza to the Palestinians, we will get quiet and security, and instead we received over 4,000 rockets on Sderot, Ashdod, Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv."
Regarding calls during the term of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to withdraw from the Golan Heights, in order to broker a peace treaty with Syria, Bennett noted the current situation in the region. "Those same generals said we must leave the Golan Heights for peace with Assad. If we had done that Al-Qaida and Hezbollah would be ruling right now over the lives of the residents of Tiberias and Ein-Gev," he stated.
The Jewish Home leader is not the first to attack Diskin over the inflammatory comments. MKs and other officials close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office stated later this week that Diskin was "detached from reality" and claiming that Diskin's frustrations stemmed from personal disappointments.