Leftist MKs on Sunday evening blasted the Likud Central Committee after its members unanimously approved a motion calling for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) called the motion “another irresponsible, impractical and unnecessary decision made by the Likud.”
The move, he warned, “Will cause political, diplomatic and demographic complications and will result in the loss of all hope for peace. A cheap populist decision that proves once again that the Likud is preparing for elections."
Zionist Union leader Avi Gabbay blasted the Likud Central Committee’s move as well.
"The members from Elon Moreh completed the takeover of the Likud and sharpened the difference between their perception of annexation of millions of Palestinians and our perception that advocates separation from them," Gabbay tweeted.
Similarly, MK Amir Peretz (Zionist Union) also blasted the move.
"The decision of the Likud Central Committee makes the struggle over Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state more tangible than ever," Peretz said.
"The imposition of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria means the annexation of millions of Palestinians who at the end of the process will become citizens of Israel with equal rights to vote and be elected to the Knesset. The Likud decision gives a green light to the realization of Azmi Bishara's vision," he charged, referring to the former Arab MK who in 2007 fled Israel and resigned from the Knesset in absentia, after Israeli authorities discovered he had signalled information and recommended targets to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.
MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said the Likud Central Committee decision stands contrary to Israeli interests.
"The wonders of the Likud ministers: In the morning they vote in favor of leaving Judea and Samaria out of an agreement with the Europeans and in the evening in favor of annexing them. They will speak in Hebrew for and explain in English that they are against," said Livni.
She continued, "The decision of the Likud Central Committee is contrary to the interests of the State of Israel. Netanyahu knows this, but is afraid to go to [a meeting of] his own party and tell it the truth. That is the difference between a leader and a politician, everyone knows that the decision will not be implemented and that the Likud has no true and realistic path. The Israeli interest is to seek to separate from millions of Palestinians through a clear border as the only realistic option to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."
Meanwhile, Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the Likud Central Committee’s move.
"I congratulate the Likud movement on the adoption of the sovereignty plan in Judea and Samaria. We have gone through another stage of separation from the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state, which only brought security damage and boycotts against Israel," Bennett said.
"I call on Yesh Atid to join this important initiative and to distance itself from the idea of an ISIS state along Highway 6," the minister added.