The Knesset approved in second and third readings a bill that transfers powers over issues related to Judea and Samaria from the Supreme Court to the Administrative Court in Jerusalem.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked praised the bill and said: "The party of petitions to the Supreme Court by Palestinians and extreme leftist organizations against settlement in Judea and Samaria ends today. From now on they will have to go through the legal hurdles as every Israeli citizen does."
According to her, the law will normalize the lives of Judea and Samaria residents. "In this way, the Knesset conveyed an important message - the residents of Judea and Samaria are an inseparable part of Israel's citizens."
"They serve in the army and the reserves and fulfill their full obligations to the state. There is no reason for them not to be lawfully residents of 'smaller Israel.' Hevron, Ra'anana, Elon Moreh and Kiryat Shmona are inseparable parts of the Land of Israel. "
Shaked added, "The fact that the Supreme Court deals with administrative decisions as the first and last court violates the right of access to the courts of residents of Judea and Samaria, who do not enjoy an appeals court, like every Israeli citizen who petitions the Administrative Affairs Court and enjoys the right of appeal to the Supreme Court. In addition, leftist petitions will finally be subject to better and more just verification of facts. The lust for destruction will be curtailed, settlement development will continue.”
"Beyond the normalization of the residents of Judea and Samaria, this law is important to reduce the enormous burden imposed on the Supreme Court. Today, the Supreme Court hears about 10,000 cases a year, and there is no justification for it to hear all these decisions as a first and last court.
"I thank Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman, Chairman of the Constitution Committee Nissan Slomiansky, MK Betzalel Smotrich and the Department of Justice and Consulting at the Ministry of Justice," said the Minister of Justice.