Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chided Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni for claiming earlier this week that the Western Wall will remain forever in Israel's hands, hinting that under her plans Jews will need Armored Personnel Carriers to reach the site.
Speaking at the International Bible Contest for Adults in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that the spirit of the Maccabees is what brought the Jews back to Israel, allowed them to build and defend the land, and “gives us great strength to stand up against all challenges and rebuff all pressure.”
Netanyahu alluded to Livni and Labor Party head Isaac Herzog – who both went to the Wall on Sunday and vowed that it will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever – saying that they are willing to to give the Palestinians a capital in Jerusalem. “I have heard someone say the Wall will stay in our hands,” he said. “I want to ask you, how exactly will the Wall remain in our hands, as an enclave inside Palestinian territory?”
And, Netanyahu said, “how exactly will we get to it? In convoys, by helicopter, perhaps in Armored Personnel Carriers? We did not return to the Wall after 2,000 years, in order to reach it by Armored Personnel Carriers. On this day I say to you here, on the last night of Hanukka, that the Wall will stay in our hands, and Jerusalem in its entirety will remain in our hands forever, under Israeli sovereignty.”
By HERB KEINON