No forces from Turkey or Qatar will enter the Gaza Strip, Likud lawmaker Avichay Buaron told JNS during a recent interview in his Knesset office in Jerusalem.
“The only force that will enter is a European force. When it comes to fighting and disarming Hamas, however, no one will do the work other than the IDF,” he said.
Buaron added that the task would be easier now that all living hostages are out of the Strip and Israel retains control of 53% of the territory.
Regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Buaron said his party agreed with it on the declarative level, apart from Point 19, which alludes to a pathway toward a Palestinian state.
“President Trump hinted at a two-state solution if specific conditions were met in the future—conditions that will never be fulfilled, such as reforming the [Palestinian Authority] education system,” Buaron said. “There is no chance this will happen, but even if it did, there would never be a Palestinian state.
“Either there will be a Palestinian state and we won’t be here, or we’ll be here and there won’t be a Palestinian state,” he continued. “Trump understands this. He paid them lip service to free the hostages, disarm Hamas and clear the Strip. The Rafah Crossing [to Egypt] will reopen, and we will see Gazans flee.”
Buaron is concerned by the threat that the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria pose to Israel’s densely populated (and narrow) central region.
“If Oct. 7 had happened there and 3,000 terrorists had entered Kfar Saba, Netanya and Ra’anana, the numbers [of dead victims] would have exploded,” Buaron said.
“The threat is growing and will spread into Israel. We armed the P.A. so it could govern the Palestinians, but there is a risk those weapons will be turned against Israel,” he continued.
According to Buaron, 87% of Palestinians supported Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel. “They have motivation and capabilities. We must dismantle all their capabilities. We must cancel Areas A, B and C and be able to move freely to ensure the threat does not spread.”
Buaron said that, for now, the issue of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria has somewhat receded from public debate, but stressed that efforts would be made to return it to the forefront.
“We need to control that area to send the message that there will not be another Oct. 7, and to make clear to the Palestinians and the world that we are in Judea and Samaria to stay,” he said. “There should be no illusions or hopes that one day we will be overturned. That belief fuels bullies who continue to harm us. Ending that illusion is what will stop terror.
“Concerning Gaza, I believe the right course for Israel is to resettle in open areas of Gaza and maintain control there, he added.
Israel’s unified homeland
On peace and normalization with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Buaron said his sole red line is maintaining Israel’s unified homeland.
“When we talk about Judea and Samaria, we are referring to where the Jewish people was born—our patriarchs, our ancestors and the entirety of our history. This is our connection to the land,” Buaron said. “I am not an imperialist. I have no interest in controlling Lebanon or conquering Saudi Arabia. What interests me is living in my country.”
Buaron said he believes a large majority of Lebanese want to live in peace with Israel, including elements within the country’s leadership. Lebanon, whose population is divided among Druze, Christians, and Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, is not, he said, a Muslim country.
“Israel and Lebanon could live in a much warmer and more prosperous peace than Egypt, where there is a much stronger Muslim influence,” Buaron added. “We could have a more flourishing relationship, but the Hezbollah element must be neutralized.”
Buaron also discussed several legislative initiatives he has advanced since joining the Israeli parliament.
He was the primary initiator of a “Teachers Law” intended to bar teachers who earned academic degrees from institutions in the Palestinian Authority from teaching in Israel.
“There are 6,720 teachers in eastern Jerusalem educating about 110,000 students. Of those teachers, 4,000 studied at P.A. universities. You cannot come from an institution that is jihadist and fundamentalist,” he said.
Buaron said he is also advancing what he calls the “Attorneys General Law,” which aims to establish independence between the attorney general and ministerial legal advisers.
“The deep state in Israel was built through the attorney general. Every ministry has its own legal adviser, and all the legal advisers are subordinate to the attorney general, who has the final say,” Buaron explained.
“As a result, ministries operate according to the attorney general rather than the prime minister or the agenda the public elected him to advance. That situation cannot continue,” he said.
In the financial sphere, Buaron outlined his “Deposit Law,” an amendment to existing banking legislation. The proposed law would allow Israelis with disposable income to place short-term deposits at a 5% interest rate in any bank, without transferring all their assets to a single institution.
“Currently, there are 231 billion shekels [about $71.5 billion] in Israel sitting in regular bank accounts rather than in savings accounts,” Buaron said. “Banks earn about 10% interest on this money, while the account holders earn nothing. If those 231 billion shekels generate 5$ interest, the public’s purchasing power would increase by 1.5 billion shekels [$464 million].”
Buaron, who sought to have Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh, from the Hadash-Ta’al party, expelled from the Knesset for supporting Hamas, said that while he believes in freedom of expression, it is inappropriate for a Knesset member to speak against IDF soldiers.
“At the end of the day, they are also fighting for him and for his community,” Buaron said. “We needed 90 votes [out of 120 Knesset members] to expel him, and it did not happen. He continues to say that IDF soldiers are killing babies.”
On the issue of President Isaac Herzog perhaps pardoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Buaron said Israel needs it.
“The country has been torn since 2015, with nearly 10 years of investigations into Netanyahu. On the one hand, the public has repeatedly affirmed that Netanyahu is its prime minister; on the other, the cases are falling apart. Even the court has said there is not a single embezzlement or financial crime,” he said.
“I am not worried about the prime minister, I am worried about the country, which needs this man to continue leading. Since Oct. 7, we have confronted enemies in Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Now that we want to rehabilitate the country and its economy, we need him to do it—so release him,” Buaron said.
