Israeli Minister: The Bible says West Bank is ours - Mehdi Hasan (Al-Jazeera)

Video Description (from Youtube)

Last week, in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump surprised the world by appearing to dismiss a long-standing US commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Prominent hard-right Israeli Education Minister, Naftali Bennett, welcomed the statement saying: "The era of a Palestinian state is over."

"There already exists two states for the Palestinians: one in Gaza, a full blown state run by Hamas, and the other is Jordan, where 70 percent of the citizens are, indeed, Palestinians," Bennett told UpFront. "So the discussion is whether we need a third Palestinian state smack in the heart of Israel, and the answer is no."

When asked about the Israeli Supreme Court's 2005 ruling describing the West Bank as under "belligerent occupation", Bennett called it a "political decision" and cited the Bible as proof of Israel's right to the West Bank.

"If you want to say that our land does not belong to us, I suggest you go change the Bible first," says Bennett.

In this week's Headliner, we challenge the Israeli education minister and prominent right-wing leader Naftali Bennett.

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