Before leaving New York, Sharon dismissed criticism that his government had not responded to the terrorist murder of Baruch Cohen of Efrat or to the mortar shelling of Kibbutz Nachal Oz. Sharon said that he would carry out that which he promised, but that he needs some time. \"Patience is required,\" he said. \"My policies have not changed, and that is what I told the Americans as well.\"
Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal asked Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef if the Council would in fact give Sharon more time: \"No,\" said Mor-Yosef. \"He\'s had enough time, during which we have seen that there has been no change in policy. A closure was imposed on Ramallah, because of warnings of a major car bomb - but because of pressure from the left and the media, it was taken off even before the car bomb was found and all the members of the terrorist cell were arrested. This shows that he is not going in the right direction.\"
Mor-Yosef said that his \"sharp tone\" was not meant to imply \"that we\'ll start working to topple his government today - but we do want the government to change its reactions to terrorism, and it must be done quickly. Sharon was elected over six weeks ago, such that he\'s had enough time to make plans. At his behest, we ourselves met with his security advisor Maj. (res.) Meir Dagan, and talked to him about our ideas. So we know that there are written plans, but they are not being implemented...\"
Upon learning that Palestinians had thrown at least six anti-tank grenades on Israeli forces during several hours of heavy fire in Gush Katif today, Mor-Yosef said, \"We keep hearing that the IDF is returning fire - what is this? The IDF is much stronger than them, and shouldn\'t be playing this game with them - they should simply destroy the forces firing against us! Instead, when the Palestinians go to lunch, our soldiers will also stop firing…\"
\"It\'s very nice that Sharon keeps saying that he won\'t negotiate while the violence continues,\" Mor-Yosef said, \"but the question is what is he doing about the violence itself!... Similarly, the government ministers keep saying how Arafat is directly responsible for the violence - this is important, because the previous government did not do this, but it begins to sound a bit pathetic when they keep saying it but don\'t do anything practical as a result.\"
Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal asked Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef if the Council would in fact give Sharon more time: \"No,\" said Mor-Yosef. \"He\'s had enough time, during which we have seen that there has been no change in policy. A closure was imposed on Ramallah, because of warnings of a major car bomb - but because of pressure from the left and the media, it was taken off even before the car bomb was found and all the members of the terrorist cell were arrested. This shows that he is not going in the right direction.\"
Mor-Yosef said that his \"sharp tone\" was not meant to imply \"that we\'ll start working to topple his government today - but we do want the government to change its reactions to terrorism, and it must be done quickly. Sharon was elected over six weeks ago, such that he\'s had enough time to make plans. At his behest, we ourselves met with his security advisor Maj. (res.) Meir Dagan, and talked to him about our ideas. So we know that there are written plans, but they are not being implemented...\"
Upon learning that Palestinians had thrown at least six anti-tank grenades on Israeli forces during several hours of heavy fire in Gush Katif today, Mor-Yosef said, \"We keep hearing that the IDF is returning fire - what is this? The IDF is much stronger than them, and shouldn\'t be playing this game with them - they should simply destroy the forces firing against us! Instead, when the Palestinians go to lunch, our soldiers will also stop firing…\"
\"It\'s very nice that Sharon keeps saying that he won\'t negotiate while the violence continues,\" Mor-Yosef said, \"but the question is what is he doing about the violence itself!... Similarly, the government ministers keep saying how Arafat is directly responsible for the violence - this is important, because the previous government did not do this, but it begins to sound a bit pathetic when they keep saying it but don\'t do anything practical as a result.\"