The Jewish community of Shilo, in Binyamin
The Jewish community of Shilo, in BinyaminIDF Photo

The Judea and Samaria Council has no problem with the prospect of leftist groups demanding an “investigation” into an ad it has been running in Israeli media, the group said Sunday. In fact, the Council would welcome an opportunity to further publicize the fact that a large number of government ministers and MKs oppose the idea of a building freeze in Judea and Samaria, even in “remote settlements.”

The ad in question features a letter issued last week by the Knesset's Land of Israel Lobby, which represents dozens of MKs who oppose withdrawals from any part of Judea and Samaria, or a building freeze. It was signed by about 40 MKs and ministers, and the Council paid for full-page ads in Israeli newspapers over the weekend that featured the ads.

On Sunday, Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer said that he would demand an investigation into the ad, because the Council, as a government-funded body, was promoting MKs for reelection by paying for the ads. Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) on Sunday asked the Attorney General to render an opinion on the legality of the ad.

In a statement, the Council said that it was not intimidated by the left's “threats. Not only do we not see a problem with the ad, but in fact, on Monday we plan to translate and publish the ad in English, so that the rest of the world can see that there is a large coalition here against building freezes. The letter itself was issued by Knesset members and we reprinted it. We have no plans to refrain from publicizing the major damage that would result from a building freeze,” the Council said.