A year after he set up a sukkah that caused a raging storm, MK Zvi Succot (Religious Zionism) posted the reason that led him to set up the sukkah after a wave of terrorist attacks, and dismissed claims that IDF forces were redeployed from the south to secure it.
"It’s a year since we set up the sukkah in Hawara," said Succot. "At that time I was a relatively new MK who was seriously convinced that the security concept in Israel was terrible and would lead us to disaster. At a time when the public was only interested in partitions in the streets, it was my duty to ring every possible bell and warn of a terrible security concept."
Succot added that at the time he was the only MK in the coalition who threatened to leave the government if the perception of security did not change. "It is very embarrassing to say that on the very day of the massacre, those who had preached for years for surrender and upheld the terrible perception of security that existed here, invented a lie claiming that IDF forces that were supposed to protect the residents of the Gaza Envelope had been redeployed from the south to Hawara to secure it."
"This is a lie that was publicized in the media by the head of the Human Resources Division, the head of the Samaria Brigade, and in explicit documents of the Operations Division. "On the day when their worldview had been shattered and we were all crying in shock, they only thought of one thing – how to accuse settlers who they have always hated with lies about the terrible massacre," he added.
He continued to say: "Unfortunately, to this day there are many who believe this abominable lie. I am sorry for every minute that I did not invest more effort in trying to draw public attention to the security catastrophe that existed on the eve of the massacre, to the closing of eyes and the false hope, to the neglecting of long-term security for the sake of momentary quiet."
"We knew all this. I Personally invested endless efforts in trying to make it clear to the public, to the IDF and to the politicians. I will not forgive myself for not shouting even louder," he concluded.