Netanyahu: We should come to agreements with settlers on outposts

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Just ten days before voters head to the ballots to choose the next leader of Israel, three of the leading candidates in the race for the premiership faced off on Channel 2 in the country's first-ever YouTube debate. Foreign Minister and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister and Labor head Ehud Barak, and Opposition leader and Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu all fielded a range of video questions which were submitted by viewers. Each candidate was given 45 seconds per question, with a total of ten questions. They were also told not to use the debate as an opportunity to launch personal attacks against other candidates. Netanyahu started off the debate, and was quickly posed with a question about one of the more tenuous issues to face the next government: illegal settlements. "I support what the security establishment is currently doing, trying to take them down after forming agreements with the settlers," the Likud chairman said. "I think it's important to come agreement with settlers." "But why are we not talking about illegal outposts in the Galilee, or on the side of the Dimona-Arad highway [in the South]?" he said, adding that the law should be applied equally to all citizens.