Danon, challenging Netanyahu for Likud leadership, says if UN passes PA resolution this week, sovereignty must be Israel's answer.

Likud Central Committee chairman Danny Danon, who is challenging Binyamin Netanyahu for leadership of the party, on Saturday night called on Israel to respond to an expected UN recognition of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the "state of Palestine" by declaring sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

"We must clarify in the clearest terms to the world that every unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will bring Israeli sovereignty," declared Danon in a meeting with Likud activists in Judea's Gush Etzion region.

Prime among the attendants at the meeting were Kiryat Arba Regional Council head Malakhi Levinger and Deputy Gush Etzion Regional Council head Moshe Savil.

"When a senior member of the Palestinian Authority, (chief negotiator) Saeb Erekat, dares to claim Israel equals ISIS (Islamic State), it's a sign that truly there is no one to talk with on the Palestinian side," said Danon.

Erekat announced last Friday that the UN will likely vote on Monday on a unilateral PA resolution, which demands recognition, Israeli withdrawals from eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria by 2017, and prior to that a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement.

"If on this coming Monday the UN recognizes a Palestinian state, the state of Israel must respond with unilateral steps (as well), including implementing sovereignty," declared Danon.

Russia has said it will support the resolution, and while US Secretary of State John Kerry has not publicly stated that Washington would use its veto against the resolution, his spokeswoman recently said the United States will not support the resolution.

Two weeks ago the European Parliament voted to recognize "Palestine," following a string of European nations voting to recognize the PA as a state - the parliamentary vote came the same day Hamas was removed from the European Union's (EU) official terrorist organization list on an alleged "technicality."

Danon, who is leading a push to get radical Arab MK Hanin Zoabi disqualified from coming elections, has suggested innovative proposals on another front recently as well. After a Gaza sniper attack on IDF soldiers last Wednesday, he said "for every shot from Gaza, we must take down a Hamas building."