Illegal construction activity near Sussiya
Illegal construction activity near SussiyaRegavim

Mount Hevron Regional Council chief Yohai Damari expressed outrage following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s decision to freeze the planned demolition of an illegally-built Bedouin community next to the Israeli town of Sussiya, south of Hevron in Judea.

The failure to enforce the law, argued Damari, hurts local Jews while benefiting the lawbreakers.

Observers say the Prime Minister likely took the decision to freeze the planned demolitions, despite hundreds of soldiers and police officers already having been prepared for the operation, due to the expected arrival of President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner to the region.

“There is no describing the extent of the Israeli government’s surrender,” said Damari. “Just because of an expected visit by a couple of US envoys, the government is delaying indefinitely the demolition of illegal homes which were built in violation of a Supreme Court order and have been sitting on state land for years.”

“The Israeli government’s failure to enforce the laws here stands in stark contrast to its enthusiasm whenever it comes to demolishing Jewish homes, as we saw recently in Netiv Ha’avot and Tapuah, and before that…in Amona and Ofra.”

“I call on the Israeli government to do the right thing, to stop adopting one-sided decisions and to act for the benefit of the State of Israel and its citizens, to put security and the protection of state land at the top of the agenda.”