Beer Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich on Tuesday morning held a press conference streamed live on his personal Facebook page, discussing last week's terror attack in his city and warning that, "Israel needs to understand: The State needs the Negev more than the Negev needs the State."
"We must act, because we are already very late," he added. "There are two possibilities: Either the Negev becomes the new Israeli dream, or it becomes the State's nightmare."
According to Danilovich, Israel will have 16 million citizens by 2048, and nearly 60% of them will live in the larger Jerusalem area or in Tel Aviv and its suburbs.
"The State of Israel is endangering itself by calling on young people to come to areas in demand... Israel is about to create, with its eyes wide open, two states."
"I understood from my meetings with State leaders that there is no strategic plan for the Negev. The police are beaten and bruised, and in its current image and manpower it is not capable of handling civilian terror - it is too much for it."
"The State of Israel is trapped in a mistaken concept. We do not understand that everything has changed. The existential threat is real and felt, even if it is not immediate. There are those who think that the threats are thousands of kilometers from here. But no, the threat is internal."
Danilovich begged, "I did not come to make headlines. I am saying these things from my heart's lifeblood. I'm not interested in blaming anyone, not the Right and not the Left. I am an emissary of the State and I am very worried."