Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, mostly to discuss the U.S. position on a deal proposed by Russia in which the U.S. and Russia would disarm Syria of chemical weapons. According to several reports, Israel will ask that the military option against Syria remain on the table, in order to deter Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from carrying out only part of the agreements he signs, and reneging on the rest.
However, considering the fact that U.S. sponsored negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are still going strong, many Israeli leaders are concerned that Kerry will take the opportunity to further pressure Netanyahu to concede on Israel's “red lines” for the benefit of the PA, or to extract more “gestures” from the Prime Minister. In one recent such gesture, the Prime Minister agreed to release over 100 Arab terrorists, many of whom who had been actively involved in the murders of Israelis.
In order to ensure that Netanyahu understands what is at stake – and how members of his government feel about it – sixteen coalition MKs on Sunday handed Netanyahu a message saying that he needed to make clear to Kerry Israel's opposition to further withdrawals and concessions to the PA.
“Twenty years after the terrible Oslo Accords, we call on the Prime Minister to present to the U.S. Secretary of State our clear position: Israel will not return to the 'Oslo Formula' of concessions for 'peace,' handing over parts of our homeland to the PA in exchange for a piece of paper,” the message said.
Among those who signed the messaged were MKs Levin, Strook, Regev, Rotem, Shaked, and Slomiansky, along with deputy ministers Elkin, Hotovely, and Akunis.
Meanwhile, at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister, Kerry confirmed that a military option was still on the table vis-a-vis Syria.
"The threat of force remains, the threat is real," he said, adding "We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs."