Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin emphasized on Wednesday Israel’s legitimate right to build throughout Jerusalem, following controversy regarding the announcement of plans to build 1,600 new homes in the capital’s northern Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. The announcement came during United States Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the country and drew heavy criticism from the American administration.

“This is a matter on which Israeli governments and American administrations have held opposing positions since 1967,” said Rivlin, noting that the Americans had opposed the construction of Gilo, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot and Neve Yaakov, saying that those were all neighborhoods “about which there has been a consensus among Zionist parties, and no government has even considered not building in them.”