Netanyahu: I stood up to pressure that no other Israeli prime minister ever faced

 

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a meeting with Likud lawmakers Sunday afternoon to plan out the party’s election campaign for the final three weeks before next month’s general election.

During the opening of the meeting, discussed pressure from some right-wing lawmakers to immediately apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria – despite calls from the US to hold off until after the March 2nd election – and touted his refusal to cave in to demands for concessions from the Obama administration.

Netanyahu cited an example of US demands for concessions in 2016, following former Israeli President Shimon Peres’ death in 2016, when the US Secretary of State pressed Netanyahu to withdraw from parts of Judea and Samaria.

“There was one case, after Peres’ funeral, when I was told: ‘If you want to get a funeral like this, you need to start to compromise,’” said Netanyahu. “I said I’m not concerned about my funeral but about making sure Israel won’t have a funeral of its own.”

“For 11 years, we had to stop what no one else stopped. My ability to withstand American pressure came from the ability that I had gained to appeal to American popular opinion. They believe me.”

“I withstood pressures that no prime minister ever faced, and I took steps that no other prime minister took in order to prevent a retreat to the 1967 border.”

 

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