In the wake of the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan this week, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the United States had indeed offered him to apply its "Afghan model" in Israel by having US-trained Palestinian forces provide Israeli security.
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"In 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry invited me on a secret visit to Afghanistan to see how the United States had established a local military force capable of fighting terrorism alone," Netanyahu said. "The message was clear: the 'Afghan model' is the model that the United States also seeks to apply to the Palestinian cause.
"I politely declined the offer and predicted that as soon as the US left Afghanistan, everything would collapse. Unfortunately, that is what happened: an extremist Islamic regime has conquered Afghanistan and will transform it into a terrorist state which will endanger world peace.
"We would achieve the same result if, God forbid, we handed over control of the homeland to the Palestinians. They would establish a terrorist state in Judea and Samaria."
The opposition leader said that time proved he made the right decision and warned that Israel "must not trust others to ensure our safety, we must defend ourselves against any threat."
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However, "the Lapid-Abbas-Bennett government is doing the exact opposite, endangering our security and our very existence. They have agreed on a 'no surprises' policy with Iran, a dangerous policy that restricts Israel's operational freedom of action," he concluded.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
