“All my security decisions regarding actions on the Temple Mount or with Gaza are not political. I make decisions based on merit,” Bennett said in an exclusive interview with CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. “What’s right for safety and what’s right for doing, I’m not going to change that. I will not change my defense-related decisions for political reasons,” he said.
The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, is the site of the Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. The first and second temples also stood here and is considered the holiest place in Judaism.
Israel’s fragile coalition government was dealt a major blow earlier this month when coalition leader Idit Silman resigned, stripping the government of its majority.
The current coalition government was formed on June 13, 2021 after four elections were held in less than two years. It comprises eight parties, covering the spectrum of ideologies, from the Meretz party on the left to New Hope and Yamina on the right. For the first time ever, it includes an Arab party, the United Arab List.
Bennett told Amanpour he expects “all members of the coalition to stand up by this point.
“We knew it was going to be difficult. We knew there would be bumps along the way in bringing together the secular and the religious, the right and the left, Jews and Arabs, but that’s the challenge and I think there’s a unique opportunity for the first time ever in Israel where there is an Arab leader, Mansour Abbas, who is preventing the nationalist elements from simply caring about the Israeli Arabs, and I hope he comes out on top and to his people.”
When asked if he believes his government can survive, Bennett said “it is vital for Israel to maintain the stability and success of this government” and he was “convinced that members of this government and the Israeli public want it.” it will work, which is why I think it will work.”
The recent acts of violence in the Old City of Jerusalem have put new strains on Israel’s coalition.
On Monday, Bennett blamed Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, for inciting Palestinians.
Videos on social media showed Palestinians throwing stones at buses often used by Jews to visit the holy sites and setting off firecrackers. Other videos showed images of Israeli soldiers making arrests inside the Aqsa Mosque building and beating people on the premises with batons.
The prime minister has been pressed by Amanpour whether he believes the sight of Israeli soldiers in the mosque would create tension.
He blamed the violence on “300 Palestinian rioters” who “entered the mosque with explosives and stones. They began desecrating their own mosque, burning it down, throwing stones and preventing about 80,000 decent Muslims from going to prayer Israel is supposed to grant freedom of prayer to everyone in Jerusalem, including Muslims, which is why I had to send police officers to stop the rioters remove it and it worked.”
“80,000 Muslims later continued to pray peacefully,” he said.
Amanpour urged the prime minister whether his government would seriously consider a peace process and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Bennett pushed back, saying he would “not conduct any experiments on Israeli security”.
“We handed over Gaza to the Palestinians. We retreated to the ’67 lines. We drained and expelled the Jews living in Gaza and what we got in return is hell. Tens of thousands of rockets shot at us. I’m not in the business of playing experiments with the Israeli people. What I am going to do and I am doing is people-to-people, bottom-up peace, getting more jobs for Palestinians and better paying jobs, and I have to say the Palestinians are experiencing unprecedented prosperity.”
Amnesty International said the Israeli government has maintained an “illegal blockade of Gaza” that has exacerbated a “humanitarian crisis”.
Speaking to CNN, Bennett pointed to shootings in “Beersheba, Hadera, in central Tel Aviv, where Arab Muslim terrorists, some affiliated with ISIS, just came in with guns and started shooting people in the streets” as evidence ensure that the conflict continues from one side.
“I reject the idea of both sides. No, if they don’t attack us, we don’t have any problems with them,” he said. “If they attack us, I have to fight back and meet them at their terror bases, and that’s what any leader would do, and I’m doing that.”
Fourteen people were killed in four attacks on civilians in Israel, including three by Palestinian gunmen. A similar number of Palestinians died in incidents in the occupied West Bank, being shot by Israeli soldiers in clashes during anti-terrorist operations for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails and running toward a checkpoint.