Bennett: Sovereignty Now; Kushner: Wait Until After Elections

Naftali Bennett’s Yemina party on Thursday reiterated the need for a quick imposition of Israeli sovereignty on Jewish communities in Yehudah and Shomron – before the March elections. “Missing this opportunity would be a terrible blow to Jewish settlement, to the half million Jews in Yehudah, Shomron and the Jordan Valley. Sovereignty is at our fingertips, we dare not miss the opportunity.”

The statement came in the wake of an interview U.S. Mideast negotiator Jared Kushner gave to Gzero Media, in which he said that the U.S. would prefer Israel impose sovereignty after the March election. “The hope is that they’ll wait till after the election, and we’ll work with them to try to come up with something,” Kushner said, adding that there were many parameters that needed to be examined and understood. “We’ve agreed with them on forming a technical team to start studying taking the conceptual map. The Jordan Valley can mean a lot of different things,” Kushner said, citing an example. “I think we’d need an Israeli government in place in order to move forward,” he added.

Bad idea, Yemina said in its statement. “We demand that Prime Minister Netanyahu act decisively and bring sovereignty to a government vote in the coming week. If he does this and asks the Cabinet to decide on sovereignty in Israeli towns and the Jordan Valley, we will back him.”

Reports Wednesday said that Netanyahu would call a Cabinet meeting next Tuesday dedicated to the sovereignty issue. Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein said Wednesday night that if the Knesset is called upon to approve the decision, he would ensure that it passes quickly. “Our great friend President Trump presented a peace plan together with Prime Minister Netanyahu that will significantly change the way the world has thought about peace until now. But whether that plan remains just words on a page is up to us. The moment the prime minister asks to assemble the Knesset I will do so. I don’t care who will complain or attack me, the main thing is that the right thing is done,” he said.