Netanyahu plans fences ‘to surround all of Israel’ to protect it from ‘wild beasts’


Special to WorldTribune.com

The entirety of Israel should be surrounded by fences to protect against infiltration from “wild beasts,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Feb. 9.

“At the end of the day as I see it, there will be a fence … surrounding Israel in its entirety. We will surround the entire state of Israel with a fence, a barrier,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu inspects the new fence at the border between Jordan and Israel near Eilat, saying: ‘In our neighbourhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts.’ Photograph: Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/EPA
Benjamin Netanyahu inspects the new fence at the border between Jordan and Israel near Eilat. /Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/EPA

“In our neighborhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts,” the prime minister said in reference to threats from Palestinian terrorists and those from nearby Arab states.

Netanyahu made the comments during a tour of the Jordan border area in Israel’s south. The prime minister’s proposal, which analysts said would cost billions of shekels, would also target the problem of Hamas infiltration tunnels from Gaza.

The Israeli government is also looking to seal gaps in the existing separation wall that runs along large areas of the West Bank, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu’s plan was criticized by Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the hard-right Jewish Home party.

“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,” Bennett said.