Former Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz and other officials took the stage on Wednesday at aconference organized by HaShomer HaChadash and Israel Hayom on governance and personal security in Israel.
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In their comments, they warned that Israel must not ignore the various problems it faced amid growing threats from within and from outside, also hitting back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's focus on reforming the judiciary and once again rebuffing his call to join forces on the effort.
Gantz said the following:
"We are definitely in a critical period, in the State of Israel there are great challenges, great political opportunities. Security threats on all fronts, a tremendous economic challenge of internal security and the critical fight against crime that you and your organization took the initiative to combat.
"I claim that the national priorities are simply wrong, Netanyahu is not leading it correctly. If he wants the judicial reform, let him do it and actually go through with it, if not, let him stop it. Now what happens is he's shooting in all directions.
Video: Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks at the Israel Hayom-Hashomer HaChadash conference / Credit: ILH Staff
"The most important thing in the country is personal security, the least important thing is the judicial reform. Even before Operation Guardian of the Walls, the matter of internal security, the quality and reliability of law enforcement was important. During the period of the previous government, we managed to create a change and start increasing the Israeli guard. You have to do an operation that can last for years, and for that reinforcement of the police is required."
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich said the following: "A court is not authorized to invalidate basic laws, that is the end of democracy. We want to balance and correct. We want a strong and resourceful judicial system, but not one that puts a strain on people. I hope that the Supreme Court will come to its senses."
He added regarding governance and personal safety: "Prtection rackets are an economic barrier. Harassing small businesses is unacceptable and I say it unequivocally from my side, we will eradicate the protection money chain. We will join forces and restore our economy that has been strangled by crime organizations.
The state's money will not go to criminal organizations and will not fuel them. These are one of the perpetrators of crime that we as a country have shed."
MK Mansour Abbas chairman of the Ra'am party said the following: "I suggested to Netanyahu to lead a project to eradicate crime in the Arab sector."
Abbas has already proposed to declare a state of emergency, carry out preventive arrests and join the Arab civil society in the effort. He also added that: "Preventive arrests, house arrests, electronic handcuffs will disrupt the crime organizations."
