The Palestinian Authority (PA) upholds the PLO’s goal of eliminating Israel and, with its militarized police force, there is a fear In Israel that West Bank Palestinians may orchestrate large-scale October 7-style attacks, Yesha Council chair and Mateh Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz said in a security briefing hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) on Tuesday.
Dubbing the PA’s police force as an “army,” Ganz stated that members of the Palestinian security forces have been trained in Afghanistan and that they have access to ordnance including RPG’s, machine guns, and armored vehicles.
“When we see a bulletproof [vehicle], an armored vehicle, I’m afraid that an October 7 will be the same all over the state of Israel,” Ganz said.
After CAM’s Chief Operating Officer Yigal Nisell, who was hosting the security briefing, asked Ganz if he was saying that he believed attacks similar to the October 2023 massacres in southern Israel could also occur in the West Bank, the Yesha Council head responded that he did not believe so, but that the majority of Israelis did share a fear of such a scenario.
Referring to a recent poll, “more than 80% of the people all over the state of Israel think that October 7 can happen again in their places,” Ganz claimed.
According to a poll published by the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs a week prior to the briefing, a total of 62% of Israelis (68% of Jewish Israelis) were concerned about an October 7-style attack from West Bank Palestinians.
Asked about whether he was prepared to handle any consequences that might result from the power shift that occurs after PA President Mahmoud Abbas is no longer in office, Ganz highlighted that Iran has a foothold in the West Bank and directs the terrorism there.
Israel must assert its sovereignty over the West Bank
In order to counter this threat and to assert the Jewish people’s historical and biblical claim, Israel must assert its sovereignty over the West Bank, Ganz continued.
“[Terrorism] tries to make us give up and run away,” he said. “And we have to say, ‘This is our state. We will stay here forever, and this is part of the State of Israel.’ And the only way to do this is to apply Israeli sovereignty over these areas.”
Nisell went on to ask the regional council head if he had any communication with the PA.
“Yes and no,” he said. “When I tried to meet one of the mayors, I will not say the name, you understand why, and we met each other, he didn't get out of his car. And the reason, he said, ‘If someone will see us together, I will be murdered tonight.’”
Recalling another meeting, Ganz said that a few weeks prior, he met with Palestinian leaders who were trying to build bridges between their and Israeli communities.
According to Ganz, while these kinds of connections are possible, those Palestinians he met with themselves said that Israel cannot build these bridges with the PA because its ultimate goal is to take over Israel.
Finally, Nisell asked Ganz, as the chairman of the Yesha Council, what kind of role Israel should take in shaping the security landscape in the West Bank.
“The Israeli government has not applied sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, which means that every step that we do, the whole entire world is, ‘Wait, hey, what is this area? Is it an occupied territory, or is it a part of the Israeli state?’ Today, I think we have an opportunity. We have President Trump.”
Ganz added that the Biden administration had refused to meet with Israeli leaders in the West Bank.
“They did not agree to speak with us. They spoke about us,” Ganz said, noting that nevertheless, he still met with both Republicans and Democrats during the previous administration’s tenure.
Today, Ganz noted, Israeli West Bank leaders have “a very deep connection” with the current US administration.
“So I think today we have a big opportunity to make a step and to make it very clear: Judea and Samaria is a part of the State of Israel. And we have to do that by applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and of course we have to coordinate that with President Trump, but I am sure that he will give a very strong backing to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has to make a decision.”
Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and Misgav Institute, and Dr. Harel Chorev, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies also participated in the CAM security briefing.