Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettFlash 90

With elections days away, Bayit Yehudi fought off attacks by Otzma Leyisrael regarding its position on the tearing down of unauthorized outposts in Judea and Samaria.

The controversy erupted after Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett told Channel 2 that he only supports legal construction, in Judea and Samaria just as in the rest of the Land of Israel.

"Only outposts that were built on land proven to be Palestinian should be evicted, just as a home built on private land in Ra'anana would be evicted," he told interviewer Nisim Mishal.

Otzma Leyisrael, headed by MKs Michael Ben-Ari and Aryeh Eldad, attacked Bennett over this position. "In recent weeks, Bennett has taken a sharp turn leftward," the party accused, "and in a series of interviews and closed conversations he exposed views similar to those of Likud. Otzma Leyisrael knows that disagreements regarding land must be solved in the spirit of the Levy Report and not by tearing down communities and evicting Jews."

Bayit Yehudi responded to the attack, saying – "Fortunately, there are no outposts that fit the description that the interviewer tried to present, and therefore no outposts will be evicted. Rather, we will take action so that the government finally does the sensible thing and approve the Levy Report, which presents other solutions, instead of demolition. Only a large Bayit Yehudi will cause Netanyahu to adopt the Levy Report."

Jeremy Gimpel, who is likely to enter the next Knesset as number 14 on the Bayit Yehudi ticket, told Arutz Sheva:

"The Bayit Yehudi will fight for every Jewish home in the Land of Israel. We will fight for the government to accept the Edmond Levy report and criticize Netanyahu for denying the report during his tenure.

"I actually think that Bennet's comparison of Samaria to Raanana was a clever way of turning the tables by establishing that all the illegally built Arab homes on Jewish land need to be destroyed. Yet we all know the land in Judea and Samaria is in dispute and hence would not be destroyed."

"Remember when Naftali said he would refuse orders to expel Jews from their homes? That's what he was talking about. It's unjust, immoral and you can rest assure that along with Orit Strook and Hillel Horowitz of Hevron, Uri Ariel and the Bayit Yehudi team I will fight for every Jewish home in our country."

Bennett also called for a halt to what he called Tzipi Livni's "Oslo adventures." He called for the establishment an emergency government oriented toward social issues. "The security threat is less meaningful and the defense budget can be trimmed," he said.