Sukkot blasts Bennett over West Bank remarks, accuses him of a 180-degree shift

During a morning meeting of the Knesset Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria Affairs, chairman MK Zvi Sukkot sharply attacked Naftali Bennett over comments he made in an interview with Kan 11 about removing settlements in Judea and Samaria and about Palestinian autonomy.

Sukkot called Bennett’s statement “absurd and outrageous,” and said it was especially jarring because Bennett once served as director-general of the Yesha Council. He added, “I do not understand who the people are who vote for him, how can you trust a single word that comes out of his mouth.” Referring to Bennett’s past leadership of the struggle to regulate the young settlements, Sukkot said Bennett had suddenly announced he would evacuate them and had made “a 180-degree turn to the extreme left.”

Bennett was forced this morning to explain his remarks, which were released as a promo for a Kan 11 interview with Shaul Amsterdamski. He said, “I am still right-wing, but I am not a schmuck.” He added that being right-wing means standing by principles and opposing a Palestinian state, but “being right-wing does not mean being an idiot and tweeting endlessly.”

Sukkot also linked the dispute to the coming election campaign, saying the choice is between Bennett and Yair Golan, who he said would evacuate everything and establish a Palestinian state, or his own camp, which would apply sovereignty, cancel the Oslo Accords, preserve Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, and build in Areas A and B. He concluded, “The cat is out of the bag.”