Strategic landslide in the Galilee
Boaz Hetsni warns in an opinion column on ynet of a 'strategic landslide' in the Galilee, claiming that Jewish presence in the central Galilee has shrunk to about 15% while 80% of the area is under Arab municipal control. He criticizes the 2016 Qalqilya plan, Prof. Rassem Khamaisi, and the leadership under Netanyahu, Lieberman, and Eisenkot, and praises Minister Orit Strock for curbing 'anti-Jewish discrimination'.
Boaz Hetsni, a columnist for ynet, warns of what he calls a 'strategic landslide in the Galilee'. He claims that Jewish presence in the central Galilee has shrunk to about 15%, while 80% of the area's land is under Arab municipal control, and that Jewish communities and main routes are becoming isolated enclaves. Hetsni links the process to a plan approved in 2016 by the cabinet of the Netanyahu-Lieberman government to expand the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, a plan that was halted after its exposure. He sharply criticizes former Chief of Staff Eisenkot, Defense Minister Lieberman, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and accuses Prof. Rassem Khamaisi, a member of the Islamic Movement and Ra'am, of building the plan. Hetsni notes that Kafr Kanna is supposed to triple in size to 76,000 residents without demographic need, and that Maj. Gen. Itzik Turgeman said the IDF would not use Wadi Ara in an emergency. He praises Minister Orit Strock for curbing 'anti-Jewish discrimination' in land allocation, and warns that a future government dependent on Islamist parties could collapse Jewish presence in the Galilee.