Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the headquarters of the IDF's Gaza Division, and also met with heads of local authorities in the western Negev and southern Israel.
At the end of the meeting, Netanyahu said, "We held a cabinet meeting at the Gaza Division with the division commander and the GOC Southern Command. Our policy is clear – we want to restore calm, but at the same time, we are preparing for a large scale military operation if necessary. These were my instructions to the army."
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"At the same time, I met with heads of local authorities near Gaza and Ashkelon. I discussed what steps must be taken and they gave instructions about how we could help them. I'm sorry that a few local authority heads who always say no one listens to them got up and left when we came to listen, but we will do what is necessary for everyone," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister also touched on this week's protests against police violence toward members of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, and said the Ethiopians were "dear to us."
"I say this … as the person who heads the ministerial committee on how to address the problems in that community. We will discuss all the issues, but we will also discuss something that is unacceptable – we will not accept or suffer roads being blocked and violence, including Molotov cocktails, being perpetrated against our [security] forces – or cars being set on fire or any other property being burned. We are a law-abiding nation and we demand that everyone obey the law," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said that discussions were being held about police brutality and ways of changing how Ethiopian-Israelis are treated. However, he said, one thing was certain – that blocking roads and violence were not the way to address the issue.
After the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met with leaders of Gaza-adjacent communities. Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, and Ofir Libstein, head of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, declined to attend the meeting.
"We were surprised to discover that 20 heads of local authorities from southern Israel had been invited to meet with the prime minister, and that he had no intention of holding a meeting devoted to the Gaza periphery, as we expected and as should have been held at a time like this, and which we asked for," Yarkoni and Libstein said.
