Gantz, Bennett Trade Blows

YERUSHALAYIM
benny gantz
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett speaks during a Conference at the Tel Aviv University on Sunday. (Flash90)

New Right Party leader Naftali Bennett on Wednesday took a turn attacking Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, a role played mostly by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud until now.

Gantz called Bennett a “Kahanist,” and Bennett then said that Gantz was the “dream [candidate] of Hamas,” according to The Times of Israel.

The name-calling began after Bennett made a speech in which he was extremely critical of the High Court.

“The judicial system tied the hands of IDF soldiers,” Bennett told The Marker conference. “They [messed] everything up and turned terrorists into heroes.”

“We have to defeat Hamas and restrain the High Court of Justice,” he said.

“The Supreme Court under [its former president] Aharon Barak thinks our entire life can be legislated and that everything can be discussed. They intervene day and night in government decisions in which they do not bear responsibility. The High Court judges should judge, the government should govern and the IDF should win.”

Gantz tweeted his displeasure: “An education minister who compares Hamas to the High Court cannot remain in office for another minute. They don’t even have to bring the Kahanists into the Knesset, they themselves are [Kahanist].”

Bennett hit back, saying, “If Hamas had the right to vote, they would vote for Benny Gantz, the general of hesitation.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and right-wing allies have been castigated by the center-left for supporting the merger of Bennett’s former party, Jewish Home, with Otzma Yehudit, led by disciples of Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was banned from the Knesset on grounds of incitement.

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