Danny Danon
Danny DanonFlash 90

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) on Monday called on the leftist members of Knesset to calm down, in the wake of a flurry of calls coming from the left for Israel to resume talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and concede territory.

“The left should take some tranquilizers,” Danon told Arutz Sheva, speaking a day after Finance Minister Yair Lapid, speaking at the Herzliya Conference, threatened to leave the coalition if it adopts plans to annex Area C of Judea and Samaria.

Speaking at the same conference, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni launched a tirade against the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria, calling it "a security, financial and moral burden” and adding that "the settlement enterprise is built to prevent us from ever reaching a (peace) agreement; the settlement enterprise takes enormous budgets from social issues essential to Israeli society - education, health, social justice in all its levels and varieties."

“What is this burst of energy all about? Peace plans by Livni and Lapid,” Danon said Monday. “I don’t know what’s going with Livni and Lapid. Maybe it’s their frustration that Abbas turned to Hamas which brought this surge of energy.”

He continued, "It is clear that Abbas does not control Hamas, but on the contrary, Hamas is stronger and will eventually control Abbas. Therefore, any plans presented by the left are unilateral measures. They forgot the lessons of the past, the disengagement and expulsion. They gave up on both Abbas and the Israeli public, which is no longer buying the two-state solution, so they’re coming up with new plans.”

Danon said that pressure should be applied on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to give in to any push by the left for unilateral moves.

"We need to make sure that the Prime Minister does not turn left,” he told Arutz Sheva, adding, “This connection between Lapid and Livni is problematic. We should make sure they do not drag the Prime Minister to dangerous places."

Danon criticized Lapid’s threats to leave the coalition if the annexation plan proposed by Minister Naftali Bennett goes through.

"I do not understand neither [Lapid’s] style nor his substance,” said Danon. “He talks about ‘settlement blocs’. His first campaign speech was made in Ariel. So does he object to Israeli sovereignty in Ariel? He agrees for unilateral territorial concessions but annexation should only be by consent? It’s difficult to understand the logic. This logic leads nowhere, but rather demonstrates a lack of political experience and lack of understanding of reality. Unilateral withdrawals and not even thinking about annexation of the blocs is something which is beyond my comprehension.”