A Pain in the Butt

Naftali Bennett was a guest speaker at the Yesha Council annual Public Diplomacy conference:

and the Times of Israel headline is:

Senior minister compares conflict to ‘shrapnel in the rear end,’ says entire Land of Israel ‘belongs to the Jewish people’

and explained:

"Bennett also suggested that the conflict with the Palestinians was analogous to bomb fragments that could not be dislodged from the Land of Israel; a two-state solution would permanently hobble the country, making annexation the lesser of two evils, he indicated."

The Jerusalem Post didn't mention it.

Here is Haaretz:

Idea of a two-state solution has reached 'dead end,' Bennett says

Economy minister says Israel must stop trying to solve the problem and 'live with it;' likens Palestinian problem to shrapnel injury in the backside;

Since I was present, I think a bit of clarification is required regarding this.

What he actually said [and now, here's the video, in Hebrew] was that many ask 'what can be done to solve the conflict? and there are some conflicts that are nigh impossible, if at all to solve.  but still people press us Israelis and in this situation one has to make a choice'.

He then drew the comparison as noted above this way:

his friend was wounded in the posterior near the spine where a piece of shrapnel lodged during a military action and was told, if operated on, he might become paralyzed and if not, he would suffer pain during seasonal change and he chose the second option.  So, too, Israel is faced with a 50% chance of serious security danger or to get along with the current situation.

and friends Debbie Rosen (l) and Yehudit Tayar (r):

Sometimes, journalists are a pain in the butt.

^