Beitar-Illit Mayor Meir Rubinstein has decided to wage a battle against the decision of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to freeze construction within Judea and Samaria, which includes the mayor’s city. “There wasn’t a government that instituted such a difficult decree on the town,” Rubinstein said Tuesday.

Rubinstein also called Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s approval of 455 additional housing units within Judea and Samaria as “an outrageous illusion,” saying the approval had already been issued once before. Some of the units are in the beginning stages of construction. “It’s hard to say this but we’re talking about a public relations campaign, and nothing else,” Rubinstein said.

The mayor added that during former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s tenure, 286 homes were approved in Beitar-Illit. In contrast, the Netanyahu administration hasn’t approved a single home in the hareidi-religious city.