'Progressive influence taught Israel it needs more independence'

• Published date: 28 September 2021
• Author: LAHAV HARKOV

"We have to make our economic abilities even better so that we are never dependent," the source said. "But America was and remains our greatest partner."

The comments came after the Democratic leadership gave in to demands from the progressive "Squad" in the House of Representatives that the $1 billion in Iron Dome funding be removed from a bill that was meant to stop a US government shutdown, because otherwise the bill would have been voted down.

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Two days later, a bill that was only meant to fund the Iron Dome passed with 420 in favor, nine opposed and two present.

Israeli Ambassador to the US and UN Gilad Erdan said that "the squad's behavior proves... that they are either ignorant or antisemitic."

"Iron Dome saves Israeli and Palestinian lives," Erdan said at an event with Bennett and leaders of Jewish organizations. "If Israel didn't have Iron Dome... we may have had to respond with a ground operation, which may have ended with many more lives lost.

"It's one thing to criticize Israel – that is legitimate – and it is a completely different thing to oppose protection for Israel from thousands of rockets fired by a terrorist organization: That verges on antisemitism," he said.

Bennett said at the Jewish Federations of North America event that he was "happy with the great result" of the vote in Congress, but said that the message should not just be that Iron Dome is a defensive system.

"It's broader than that... It's like [US President Joe] Biden says again and again: If there weren't an Israel, we would have to invent one. That's right on," he says. "We are nine million boots on the ground fighting day in day out, making contact with those terrorists and gaining intelligence. We're fighting [terrorists] without asking Americans to send even one troop, and we never will.

"We are not the problem: We are the solution, in the middle of the toughest region in the world," he said. "We're not going anywhere; we're here to stay. That's why it's not only about Iron Dome. The very essence of us here means the terror is at bay."

CONTRARY TO Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Bennett does not blame former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the situation, though Netanyahu's "partisan approach was unhelpful," the source said.

Bennett realizes that there...