Israel: Tel Aviv residents react to Netanyahu's annexation plan

W/S Street, Tel Aviv
W/S Street
SOT, Tel Aviv resident (Hebrew): "The statement is stunning. Maybe he should have done it ten years ago, but better now than not at all. Well done to him."
M/S People walking on street *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Tel Aviv resident: "I think it was a campaign scheme that was perfectly timed to be a week before the election itself and it doesn't impress me one way or another."
W/S People walking on street *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Tel Aviv resident: "I think that adding the West Bank to our country, with millions of Arabs will bring us to the brink of a demographic disaster, so it's actually a very, very wrong decision to do it. The next elections, if millions of Arabs will be able to vote, it definitely will bring more Arab representatives to the Knesset and the Jewish population will be a minority in their own country."
M/S People walking on street *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Tel Aviv resident: "In my opinion, it's such another act of our prime minister to try and draw some voters from the far right. The truth is that nobody actually wants to live there because the government doesn't put any money there. There's not a reason for a person to go and actually live in the Jordan Valley, because this place has been neglected for years so this is yet another populistic declaration."
M/S Street *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Oren, Tel Aviv resident: "Well, Bibi made a lot of declarations over the years and most frequently before elections and most frequently a week or a day before elections he is giving most promises about any subject. I don't think he is sincere about it. He is just trying to speak to his political base."
M/S Street
M/S Man on bike looking at poster of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu
SCRIPT
Residents of Tel Aviv responded to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to annex the occupied Jordan Valley on Wednesday.
"Maybe he should have done it ten years ago, but better now than not at all. Well done to him," said one.
Another criticised Netanyahu's promise as an electoral strategy: "Bibi made a lot of declarations over the years and most frequently before elections and most frequently a week or a day before elections he is giving most promises about any subject. I don't think he is sincere about it. He is just trying to speak to his political base."
Netanyahu stated on Tuesday that he would annex Jordan Valley and the north of the Dead Sea if he is re-elected in a vote next week.
The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea - which are currently under Israeli occupation - amount to nearly 30 per cent of territory in the West Bank.