Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told JNS on Monday that the Palestinian Authority “supports, encourages and funds terrorism” and should be replaced by a “completely different,” non-hostile body.
The Western-backed P.A. should be replaced by a civilian administrative body that “does not seek to annihilate the State of Israel,” said Smotrich, speaking at a faction meeting of his Religious Zionist Party in Jerusalem.
“Unfortunately, such a decision has not yet been made by the government I am a member of,” the Cabinet minister added.
Smotrich expressed his support for the Israel Defense Forces and additional security forces as they continue to destroy terror infrastructure in northern Samaria as part of “Operation Five Stones.”
“We need to turn over every stone,” he told JNS. “Challenges remain in other arenas, but in the end, Judea and Samaria is here—it is nearby.
“We must not, God forbid, reach an Oct. 7 scenario, not against the communities and not from Judea and Samaria outward,” he warned, referencing the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
According to a poll published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) in July, 77% of Israeli Jews fear another Oct. 7-style assault, this time by terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria.
“I work very hard to strengthen the positive side,” Smotrich told JNS. He noted the government’s ongoing attempts to strengthen its grip on the disputed region, including “communities, the separation barrier, planning, construction, roads and more and more and more.”
The IDF “does a very good job at thwarting terror within, against the terrorists deep, deep within their tunnels and their infrastructure in Judea and Samaria,” he added. “We need to continue with this—strongly, quickly and kill all the terrorists.”
On Monday night, an IDF soldier was injured in a car-ramming attack at the Judea Junction in the Hebron area. Just hours later, two Israeli troops sustained light wounds in a stabbing in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to Hatzalah Judea and Samaria figures.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
During a visit to soldiers fighting terror in northern Samaria on Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said “Operation Five Stones” was launched response to an attempt to establish a “terrorist network” in villages in the area, as well as the flight of several wanted terrorists to the region.
“Over the past two years, the [IDF] Central Command has been leading an intense and proactive counterterrorism effort in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley,” the IDF chief said, adding: “We are operating continuously to thwart terrorism and its related infrastructure.”
The army “will strengthen the defense and security of the communities,” Zamir stated. “We will not allow this terrorist threat to grow, and we will act to thwart it in advance through proactive offensive activity,” he added.
On Oct. 21, Zamir warned that terror organizations could try to disturb regional “stabilization processes,” particularly in Judea and Samaria.
The region is “in a period of significant change, which could bring new developments, and we must be prepared for all scenarios,” Zamir said during a visit to Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem.
