Netanyahu at AEI event.
Netanyahu at AEI event.Reuters

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear Wednesday afternoon that he has no intention of ordering a disengagement from any part of Judea and Samaria. 

"I didn't speak in the United States yesterday about a unilateral withdrawal, rather the possibility of unilateral steps," he explained. Steps, he added, which would "strengthen Israel's national and security interests against terrorism."

"I have no intention of evacuating or displacing communities. This mistake will not be repeated," he said, in reference to the widely criticized 2005 Disengagement from Gaza. 

Netanyahu came under fire earlier Wednesday for asserting during a speech at the Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington that he had not ruled out a possible unilateral Israeli move in Judea and Samaria.

He did, however, note that "such a move will have to meet Israel's security criteria, as well as require greater international understanding than there is now."

Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett blasted the Prime Minister's remarks, labeling "any unilateral handover of territory to the Arabs" as "a serious mistake, always. Talking about this in the middle of a terror wave relays the opposite message from the one that is required."

"The enemy must receive punishment for terrorism, and not a prize for murdering Jews," Bennett continued. "There is no doubt that a unilateral move needs to be taken: the application of Israeli sovereignty in the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria."