Knesset Interior Committee member MK Tziyon Fanian (Likud) said Tuesday that if any buildings were to be demolished in the City of David neighborhood, the government should start with a large slew of illegally built Arab homes in the Gan Hamelech area, and not with Beit Yonatan. "They mustn't touch Beit Yonatan until the last of the Gan Hamelech buildings are torn down," he said.

According to researchers, "Gan Hamelech" is the traditional site of the gardens of the Kings of Israel, where King Solomon's Song of Songs and many of King David's Psalms were written. The government declared the area a "green" site, as an important historical site, where building of any kind is forbidden. Despite that, Arabs have built some 100 illegal homes there.