\"To send a signal to the PA, not to destroy it.\" So described IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha\'ul Mofaz the army\'s current strategy against the Palestinian Authority. Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Community, does not necessarily agree with Mofaz. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Shteinitz said, \"You can\'t give a signal if you don\'t prove that you can really do something if the signal is ignored. For the past eight months, the PA has been waging war against us, building an army, bringing in heavy weapons -- the time has now come to stop signaling and start destroying, or at least bringing the PA to the verge of collapse, which would be the most effective signal there is.\"
What does Shteinitz say about claims, such as that made by Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shachak today, that \"Israel had better ensure that Arafat does not fall, lest Hamas take his place?\" Shteinitz had this to say: \"Whenever Arafat hears us talking like that, he understands that he has a green light for continued terrorism. He won\'t stop the terrorism against us until he realizes that his regime is in danger. This is the only threat that scares dictatorial regimes like his... If he understands from us that we will never react strongly enough to topple him, and that we will always stop short, he has no reason to stop the violence against us.\"
What does Shteinitz say about claims, such as that made by Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shachak today, that \"Israel had better ensure that Arafat does not fall, lest Hamas take his place?\" Shteinitz had this to say: \"Whenever Arafat hears us talking like that, he understands that he has a green light for continued terrorism. He won\'t stop the terrorism against us until he realizes that his regime is in danger. This is the only threat that scares dictatorial regimes like his... If he understands from us that we will never react strongly enough to topple him, and that we will always stop short, he has no reason to stop the violence against us.\"