Releasing prisoners was a difficult but necessary and responsible decision, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday, as the MKs from all the Knesset's Zionist parties argued over the issue throughout the day.
"The decision to free prisoners is one of the most difficult I made as prime minister," Netanyahu said in a Likud-Beytenu faction meeting. "This decision was necessary in our current reality. We have to navigate through a complex international arena full of challenges."
Netanyahu added that he feels the pain of families whose loved ones were killed directly or indirectly by some of the prisoners set to be released, who have to experience "the injustice of scoundrels being freed before serving their full punishment."
In a thinly veiled message to Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, the prime minister called on all ministers to behave responsibly and exercise good judgment now that the decision had already been made.
Netanyahu's comments follow days of arguing between the Bayit Yehudi and Hatnua on the legality of the prisoners release.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni accused the Bayit Yehudi of "hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness and dirty politics in an attempt to avoid responsibility."
"In the end, the truth comes to light," Livni declared. "We will fight for what we believe in, even if we have to do it in the mud."
Bennett said the Bayit Yehudi is facing an "unprecedented attack."
"The last time I remember seeing such stigmatization was the way Netanyahu was treated during the Oslo Accords," Bennett stated. "They're trying to silence us and make us follow the herd. They call us fascists."
Bennett insisted that "it won't work, we won't be silent, we will continue to oppose a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel and we won't allow gestures for the right to negotiate for a Palestinian state."
The Bayit Yehudi leader also thanked Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and his ministers for voting in favor of the bill meant to prevent future prisoner releases.
Liberman skipped the Likud Beytenu faction meeting, a day after all his party's ministers voted for the Bayit Yehudi prisoner release bill. A coalition source said the vote, along with support last week for legislation meant to stop negotiations to split Jerusalem, is a preview of the relationship between the two parties to come if Likud and Yisrael Beytenu part ways.
Knesset Speaker and Likud member Yuli Edelstein, warned that prisoners released this week will commit more acts of terror.
"We stood for the principle of negotiations without preconditions before this process began, but this morning the names of arch-terrorists with blood on their hands were already publicized," Edelstein wrote on Facebook.
The Knesset Speaker said the terrorists being released killed "the best of our sons and citizens" - soldiers, teachers, and even a Holocaust survivor.
"The Palestinians' 'gesture' to us came soon enough, and this morning rockets were shot at the south. That's why we say 'there is nothing new under the sun,'" he added.
According to Edelstein, "unfortunately, past experience showed us that the day on which we will see headlines stating that one of the released prisoners was involved in a terror attack is not far."
Labor faction chairman Isaac Herzog (Labor) pointed out that the debate over prisoner releases highlights tensions within the coalition.
"This is the theater of the absurd. Ministers are arguing, some are almost blaming a minister [Livni] for murder, and the prime minister stays quiet," Herzog said. "The prime minister is not managing the government. A week after the anniversary of [former prime minister Yitzhak] Rabin's assassination, the prime minister should say something."
Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich (Labor) said of the Bayit Yehudi's protestations that "the extreme right is trying to stop talks before they make any progress."
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On said "a prisoner release is not about Bennett or Livni's political future. It's a bout the fate of negotiations and the future of the State of Israel, and the time has come for Bennett and Livni to stop publicly bickering, which brings them political gain, and start acting."
Gal-On called the government's policy of freeing prisoners while building in the West Bank "the leadership of Dr. Bibi and Mr. Netanyahu," an apparent reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.Releasing prisoners was a difficult but necessary and responsible decision, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday, as the MKs from all the Knesset's Zionist parties argued over the issue throughout the day.
"The decision to free prisoners is one of the most difficult I made as prime minister," Netanyahu said in a Likud-Beytenu faction meeting. "This decision was necessary in our current reality. We have to navigate through a complex international arena full of challenges."
Netanyahu added that he feels the pain of families whose loved ones were killed directly or indirectly by some of the prisoners set to be released, who have to experience "the injustice of scoundrels being freed before serving their full punishment."
In a thinly veiled message to Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, the prime minister called on all ministers to behave responsibly and exercise good judgment now that the decision had already been made.
Netanyahu's comments follow days of arguing between the Bayit Yehudi and Hatnua on the legality of the prisoners release.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni accused the Bayit Yehudi of "hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness and dirty politics in an attempt to avoid responsibility."
"In the end, the truth comes to light," Livni declared. "We will fight for what we believe in, even if we have to do it in the mud."
Bennett said the Bayit Yehudi is facing an "unprecedented attack."
"The last time I remember seeing such stigmatization was the way Netanyahu was treated during the Oslo Accords," Bennett stated. "They're trying to silence us and make us follow the herd. They call us fascists."
Bennett insisted that "it won't work, we won't be silent, we will continue to oppose a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel and we won't allow gestures for the right to negotiate for a Palestinian state."
The Bayit Yehudi leader also thanked Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and his ministers for voting in favor of the bill meant to prevent future prisoner releases.
Liberman skipped the Likud Beytenu faction meeting, a day after all his party's ministers voted for the Bayit Yehudi prisoner release bill. A coalition source said the vote, along with support last week for legislation meant to stop negotiations to split Jerusalem, is a preview of the relationship between the two parties to come if Likud and Yisrael Beytenu part ways.
Knesset Speaker and Likud member Yuli Edelstein, warned that prisoners released this week will commit more acts of terror.
"We stood for the principle of negotiations without preconditions before this process began, but this morning the names of arch-terrorists with blood on their hands were already publicized," Edelstein wrote on Facebook.
The Knesset Speaker said the terrorists being released killed "the best of our sons and citizens" - soldiers, teachers, and even a Holocaust survivor.
"The Palestinians' 'gesture' to us came soon enough, and this morning rockets were shot at the south. That's why we say 'there is nothing new under the sun,'" he added.
According to Edelstein, "unfortunately, past experience showed us that the day on which we will see headlines stating that one of the released prisoners was involved in a terror attack is not far."
Labor faction chairman Isaac Herzog (Labor) pointed out that the debate over prisoner releases highlights tensions within the coalition.
"This is the theater of the absurd. Ministers are arguing, some are almost blaming a minister [Livni] for murder, and the prime minister stays quiet," Herzog said. "The prime minister is not managing the government. A week after the anniversary of [former prime minister Yitzhak] Rabin's assassination, the prime minister should say something."
Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich (Labor) said of the Bayit Yehudi's protestations that "the extreme right is trying to stop talks before they make any progress."
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On said "a prisoner release is not about Bennett or Livni's political future. It's a bout the fate of negotiations and the future of the State of Israel, and the time has come for Bennett and Livni to stop publicly bickering, which brings them political gain, and start acting."
Gal-On called the government's policy of freeing prisoners while building in the West Bank "the leadership of Dr. Bibi and Mr. Netanyahu," an apparent reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.