Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett warned Sunday against Israelis who are members of what he called “the religion of peace,” which keeps on trying to convince the state of Israel to make dangerous concessions to the enemies.

“These days, we are discovering what a difficult neighborhood we are living in," Bennett said at the Bayit Yehudi party's ceremonial toast for the new Hebrew year (Rosh Hashana) in Modiin, which was held in the presence of Chief Rabbi David Lau, members of the party's Knesset faction, and 700 Bayit Yehudi delegates and candidates in municipal lists.

“There is one place that is an island of stability – the state of Israel in the Land of Israel. This is the only place where there is peace. I am amazed by the bottomless fanaticism with which followers of the 'religion of peace' want to give our enemies parts of the country," he said.

“What is amazing is that precisely the same people said, a few years ago, that we have to give Assad the Golan in order to bring peace. Had we listened to them, Al Qaeda would have been dipping their feet in the Sea of Galilee, and chemical weapons would be making the rounds in Tiberias. We present an alternative – to apply Israeli law to the Israeli parts of Judea and Samaria. Not to fear.”

"A year ago, we spoke about the need to take responsibility,” Bennett said, in his treatment of other topics. “We took responsibility. We have a hand on the steering wheel. This involves a special responsibility. We lose some of the privileges we had before, like focusing on the [religious Zionist] sector or unwillingness to compromise.

"Let me tell you what happened from this morning,” he continued. “In the morning, we had a government decision to establish a Jewish Identity Authority for the state of Israel. That is precisely what we promised. The Authority will take care of all populations: pre-military academies, university students... so that we do not reach a situation in which half of the soldiers do not know who the Patriarchs are or who Judah the Maccabee was. A state with no roots has no future.”

"A few minutes later,” he went on, “the government debated a bill by MK [Orit] Struk intended to equalize the rights of women in labor laws in Judea and Samaria to those of women in central Israel. They came to curse and wound up delivering a blessing,” he said, regarding the bill's opponents. “The government decided that in four months, all of the labor laws that are in effect in smaller Israel will also take effect in Judea and Samaria.

Bennett also referred to the contentious issue of yeshiva budgets. "A short while ago, the Finance Ministry gave the Education Ministry instructions to transfer money to the Torah world,” he said. “Did things happen as I wanted? No. But the result is here, and we are looking forward, and will continue to navigate in the right direction.”

"A faction that works for Heavens' sake, day after day, gets up in the morning and gives all it's got to the Nation of Israel – only a faction like that will succeed,” he said. “But this is just the beginning of a long journey.”

He ended the toast with the traditional Rosh Hashana blessing: “I want to wish all of us, that we will be a head and not a tail.”