Under attack - Barak
Photo: Gil Yohanan
MK Katz: Barak indirectly responsible for death of Israelis
Scathing rightist attack against defense minister: Knesset Member Yaakov Katz says Barak's decision to demolish homes in West Bank outpost makes him indirectly responsible for Itamar massacre
Knesset Member Yaakov Katz (National Union) told the Knesset Wednesday that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is indirectly responsible for the Itamar massacre.
The National Union MK added that the people have spoken in the last elections, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is contradicting his own pledges by joining forces with the Labor party and Barak.
Katz charged that Barak wants to remove all settlers from their homes, adding that Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria suffer under the defense minister's "corrupt tyranny."
During a Knesset discussion on establishing a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the evacuation of the Havat Gilad outpost, MK Katz charged that Barak "is destroying our homes, freezing our lives, abandoning our sons and daughters, and indirectly lending a hand to murdering our sons and daughters."
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"Many people are telling me that Ehud Barak is the man who runs this country today," he said. "We feel that this man wants to throw out the hundreds of thousands (of settlers) from the area."
Likud Minister Michael Eitan responded to Katz on behalf of the government and urged him to take back his words, saying they were incommensurate with a legitimate political debate in a democratic state.
"When you stand at the Knesset podium as a Zionist, Jewish Knesset member and say that an Israeli defense minister is indirectly supporting the murder of Israeli citizens, you must take back your words," Eitan said.
"I am no less Zionist than you, Minister Eitan, or any other minister," MK Katz responded. "However, we cannot evade looking at reality the way it is."
Responding to Katz's call for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, Eitan said that an inquiry into the force used by authorities against civilians must be undertaken by the Knesset's Constitution Committee or Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.
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