Netanyahu to fence Israel for ‘protection from wild beasts’

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced his intention to “surround all of Israel with a fence” to protect the country from infiltration by both Palestinians and the citizens of surrounding Arab states, whom he described as “wild beasts”.

Mr. Netanyahu unveiled the proposal during a tour of the Jordan border area in Israel’s south, adding that the project would also be aimed at solving the problem of Hamas infiltration tunnels from Gaza, a recent source of renewed concern.

Multi-year plan
Mr. Netanyahu called the border project a part of a “multi-year plan to surround Israel with security fences to protect ourselves in the current and projected Middle East”.

Describing the need for new walls and fences on Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu used inflammatory language: “In our neighbourhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts.” Mr. Netanyahu said the Israeli government was also examining ways of sealing gaps in the existing separation wall that runs along large areas of the occupied West Bank.

That separation wall — ordered to be built at great cost by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — was originally credited with a drop in violent attacks by Palestinians in Israel, not least suicide bombings, a key feature of the second intifada in the first few years of this century.

That judgment has been undermined by the apparent ease with which Palestinians assailants have managed to enter Israel in the current wave of violence since the beginning of last October.

The proposal was, however, criticised by one of Mr. Netanyahu’s own Cabinet Ministers, Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the hard-right Jewish Home party.

Commenting on the proposal Mr. Bennett said: “The Prime Minister spoke today about how fences are needed. We are wrapping ourselves in fences. In Australia and New Jersey there is no need for fences.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s use of the phrase “wild beasts” — also translated as “predators” — recalled his use of equally incendiary language about Israeli-Arabs on the eve of last year’s elections whom he described as “coming out in droves”.