Ayelet Shaked: We must have a perimeter, which will be like a safe zone that no one can enter and our villages will not be a few meters from Hamas troops.
Yoni Kempinski, INN Feb 7, 2024
Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked spoke to Arutz Sheva–Israel National News on the current war, UNRWA, the amazing IDF soldiers, and her solution to dealing with Israel’s enemy on the northern border.
On the humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza and the problematic manner of delivery of this aid, former Minister Shaked said “this process involves several problems. First is how it’s being dealt with, because in reality it is supposed to be going to the Gazans, but it is going to Hamas, because of UNRWA and also because there is no one there that will do it instead of the Hamas. UNRWA is an organization that is based on Palestinians from Gaza. Most of its employees support Hamas. They support the Hamas. They are the Hamas. UNRWA employees were part of the massacre, part of the October 7th massacre and the IDF found lots of rockets, guns and other arms in the UNRWA facility. So now we have the opportunity to close this organization and to find other ways to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. For example, we can send humanitarian aid to specific areas where people are being evacuated and the IDF will take care of that and not the Hamas.”
Shaked stated that this “would be a message not only to the Israeli government but also to the world. I think that the countries that support UNRWA should stop doing this and the government of Israel needs to push them to stop doing it. I think that the government of Israel needs to ask the US Administration to ask the President to put sanctions on UNRWA workers, as this is the way to close this organization. The whole idea of UNRWA these days is a distorted idea and this is why we should do everything we can in order to close it. We have an historical opportunity right now.”
Shaked explained that “in the previous years and I assume that in the future, we will not have this opportunity again. Since the only thing that UNRWA is based on is the ‘Right of Return’, to eliminate Israel and establish a Palestinian state here instead of the Jewish State. You know that UNRWA gives a refugee status that transfers from one generation to another. There is no such case like this in the world.”
She continued to talk about Israel’s status four months after October 7th. “First of all the IDF soldiers are heroes. We are smashing the Hamas. You know that they are just coward terrorists and the soldiers are doing an amazing job. They did an amazing job in the north and now they are doing an amazing job in Khan Yunis. We just need to find a solution to have some sort of civil administration in Gaza on the day after. Currently, we are all already on the day after, because the IDF has pulled out from some of the areas in the northern part of Gaza, and because no one came instead of the IDF, the Hamas has taken over again. Already we’re seeing that, and Israel should have some sort of control for this status, otherwise, we are giving Gaza to the Hamas again.”
Shaked hopes that Israel will “create a perimeter where no one can go in, so that the residents of the kibbutzim can come back home. We must have a perimeter, which will be like a safe zone that no one can enter and our villages will not be a few meters from Hamas troops.”
In conclusion, former Minister Shaked commented on the challenge that Israel is facing on its northern border. “A few days ago I visited there; actually it was horrible in Metula. We need to find a solution and it’s better to do it with an agreement that the Hezbollah will follow UN Resolution 1701 and that they will not be in the south of Lebanon. They need to be above the Litani [River]. The IDF should enforce it there and there is no one else that can enforce this resolution and I hope that we’ll get there.”
All this talk of enforcing the move of Hezbollah north of the Litani river ignores the facts: the Lebanese are neither able or willing to get involved, the UNSC with its resolution 1701 has no means to do so, the Israelis are willing and able to do the enforcing but they would also face the consequences.
If Israel does march into Lebanon, it will bear the cost at all levels. There will be no contribution from the UNSC to support the enforcement of resolution 1701.
The cost of the war in both lives and material is Israel’s alone.
The call to defend herself before the ICJ will be immediate and so on.
In short, it looks like Blinken will be around for ever, coercing Israel to stop fighting and give up territory instead. Nice friends we have…