RAMALLAH, August 17 (JMCC) - A new media campaign will start Wednesday to advocate that Israel annex the West Bank to punish Palestinians for seeking statehood at the United Nations.
The campaign, the brainchild of Likud legislator Danny Danon, will begin on Facebook and may move to public demonstrations,
reports the Jerusalem Post. Numerous right-wing politicians have voiced support for the move.
The campaign will call for the Israeli government to respond to the Palestinians’ unilateral step by taking a Zionist unilateral action of annexing the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria,” Danon said.
The Likud legislator said the campaign was intended to remind the public and the government that many major decisions by Israel were taken unilaterally, including declaring the state by former prime minister David Ben-Gurion, annexing eastern Jerusalem by former prime minister Levi Eshkol and the annexation of the Golan Heights by former prime minister Menachem Begin.
He neglected to mention former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Support for such a move is growing as the Palestinians’ September 20 initiative comes closer. More than half the Likud faction has endorsed the idea, including ministers Gilad Erdan, Yisrael Katz, Moshe Kahlon, and Yuli Edelstein.
Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon has also spoken about Israel taking unilateral actions without being specific. Outside the Likud, Israel Beiteinu minister Uzi Landau and Habayit Hayehudi’s minister Daniel Hershkowitz have endorsed the move.