Israel Resilience Chairman Benny Gantz responded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that Abbas had “wished [Gantz] success in the elections.”
“You expelled Jews. You paid protection money to Hamas. Your time has passed - we are moving on,” Gantz said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that Abbas was “pleased, because Benny Gantz said today that he will carry out a second disengagement in Judea and Samaria and Abu Mazen [Abbas] wished him success in the elections.”
''So we must go together, win these elections and prevent this. This is the real essence of the elections: A leftist government headed by Benny Gantz or a Likud government headed by me," the prime minister added.
Netanyahu’s statements came after a spokesman for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that comments made by Gantz seemingly defending the Gaza Disengagement and expressing an openness to future evictions of Jews in Judea and Samaria were “encouraging, if he succeeds and he sticks to this opinion.”
New Right Chairman Naftali Bennett later pushed back against the PA response, claiming that “Palestinian celebrations” were “premature.”
“The Israeli public will not again support someone who proposes evacuating Jews from their homes, even if he does so humanely and with sensitivity,” Bennett said.
“After the elections, when the ‘Deal of the Century’ for the establishment of a Palestinian state comes, only one thing will be the deciding factor: Will this be a ‘BibiGantz’ government or a ‘BibiBennett’ government?”
“Only a strong New Right will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he concluded.