Netanyahu vows to stop ‘Palestinian continuity’ toward Jerusalem

This story originally appeared at The Media Line.

Har Homa, Jerusalem – Standing on an apartment balcony beneath an olive tree overlooking the green hills between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a hastily convened news conference in this neighborhood that it prevents “territorial contiguity” for a Palestinian state. The corner apartment was draped with banners saying “Only Netanyahu Can” and “It’s Either Them or Us,” two of the Likud’s latest slogans.

“There was a Palestinian attempt to connect Bethlehem and to burst into the city from the south,” Netanyahu wearing a dark suit and a blue tie, and squinting into the sun, told a group of reporters, along with a few neighborhood residents. “The pressure on me not to build here was intense, but I insisted and it was worth it,” Netanyahu said. “Today there are tens of thousands of residents here. I and my friends in Likud will preserve Jerusalem and continue to build it.”

Har Homa, which Palestinians call Jebel Abu Ghneim, is built on land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after 1967. To build the neighborhood, which today has 22,000 residents, according to mayor Nir Barkat, who introduced the Prime Minister, Israel annexed private land from both Israelis and Palestinians. The neighborhood was inaugurated in 1997, in one of Netanyahu’s first acts as Prime Minister, and sparked international condemnation, as well as Palestinian riots.

With polls showing Netanyahu’s Likud party trailing the center-left Zionist Camp by between three and five seats, Netanyahu is going all-out to attack the challengers, focusing his ire on his former Justice Minister Tzippi Livni. He also consistently referred to challenger Isaac Herzog as “Bougie”, a nickname Herzog has sought to rid himself of.

“The choice is the Likud headed by me, or a left-wing government that will give in to every demand,” Netanyahu warned. “If Tzippi (Livni) and Bougie (Herzog) are here, on these hills will rise Hamastan,” he said, using a phrase that usually refers to the Gaza Strip that has been controlled by the Islamist Hamas since 2007.

Netanyahu also called it a “fateful” election and warned that every vote counts.

“Come to the polls and bring your friends and your relatives,” he told Yaron and Sigal Chakshorian, who told The Media Line they were asked to host the news conference only early this morning.

“I’m a Likudnik,” Yaron Chakshorian told The Media Line. “I like his charisma and his presence.”

Their neighbors, Rely and Yossi Asaraf, stood holding their seven-month-old daughter, Efrat. Like the Chakshorians, they have moved here because apartments are substantially cheaper here than closer to the center of the city. Their three sons attend local schools and they say they love the neighborhood.

“We’re here because of him,” Yossi told The Media Line, explaining his support for Netanyahu.

“People talk about the need for jobs and housing, but the most important thing is security,” Rely told The Media Line. “We are surrounded by enemies and Bibi can handle them better than anyone else,” she said using the Prime Minister’s nickname.

Outside the Chakshorian’s home, however, there was not as much support for the Prime Minister. Most of the banners hanging from windows supported Yachad, a new party well to the right of Likud.

At a nearby grocery store, owner Asaf Tapiro said that just one day before the election, he had still not decided who to vote for.

“I voted Netanyahu last time but I’m still not sure this time,” he told The Media Line. “I might vote for Moshe Kahlon, because I think he is the best for the economy and that’s the most important issue for me.”

Kahlon, a former Likud government minister, is popular for opening up the mobile phone market to competition, saving Israelis hundreds of dollars a year on mobile phone bills. Polls say his new party, Kulanu, could win ten or eleven seats and be an important coalition partner to either Netanyahu or Herzog.

In an effort to respond to these voters, Netanyahu was joined at the news conference by supermarket mogul Rami Levy, whose chain of discount supermarkets are popular with Israelis. Yet Netanyahu focused his message, as he has for the past three months, on his security credentials.

“Tzippi and Bougie will not be able to preserve your security,” Netanyahu warned. “If they win, you will have rockets fired on you from these hills.”