Defensive warfare: Iron Dome
Defensive warfare: Iron DomeFlash 90

The Sovereignty Movement praised the defense establishment as well as the IDF and its commanders, who are currently faced with the challenges of an escalation in the South. “Every launch toward Israeli communities, whether within the Gaza envelope or outside of it, constitutes a severe violation of Israel’s sovereignty and as such, deserves a strong and aggressive response and should result in paralyzing deterrence. We should have returned to the policy of crushing the heads of the snake long ago, but although it came late, it is good that our response has changed from a policy of restraint, absorbing the blows, and containment,” the Movement explains.

Movement co-Chairwomen Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar emphasize that “the source of the Arab terror organizations’ strengthening in the Gaza Strip was the hasty and disastrous decision to withdraw Israel’s forces and uproot its Jewish residents from this part of the land. The Israeli civil and military-security presence in the Strip is what brought about relative quiet for years. Missile launches toward the cities of the coastal lowland were never considered in the various scenarios until Israel withdrew. The uprooting and withdrawal, which were the continuation of Oslo ideas, added another dramatic layer to the intensification of Arab terror, the results of which we are experiencing today.”

Katsover and Matar caution against promoting additional ideas of withdrawal and surrender: “The delusional and dangerous idea of establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would turn the entire country into a hostage of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the rest of the Palestinian terror organizations. Their every whim would be expressed by shooting missiles and rockets straight from the mountains of Samaria and Judea toward the Jewish population centers and would pose a severe threat to its existence.”

Movement leaders emphasized that “the need to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is not based on security needs, but on the deep and indisputable historic connection between the People of Israel and its Land. The security matter has its own importance, beyond this essential value every reasonable person understands that it is necessary to guarantee the State of Israel’s existence.”

Katsover and Matar also note the national consensus around the Jordan Valley, a consensus that was expressed in the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Blue and White Chairman Knesset Member Benny Gantz. “The two leaders have pledged to promote the application of Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, thus expressing the position of the people in Israel, who understand the security importance of this tract of land. Along with praising the two for their declarations, we call upon them to join, whether as part of a unity government or as the representatives of the two opposing political parties, in speedy, joint political action to implement the promise of sovereignty in the Jordan Valley.”