Jewish Home party Chair MK Shuli Mualem-Refaeli, one of the Regulation Law cosponsors, told Arutz Sheva about the efforts that preceded the bill's ratification yesterday in the Knesset, and expressed hope that the law will prevent uprooting Jews from Judea and Samaria.
Did you believe the regulation law would pass?
"To be honest, when Amona residents brought me the regulation bill, there were only two people in the Knesset who believed in it - MK Smotrich and myself. Even Minister Levin who introduced the law in the previous Knesset came to me yesterday after the vote and said, 'I didn't believe it, you were right.'"
MK Mualem stressed that no one in the coalition contacted her requesting to delay the vote until after the Netanyahu-Trump meeting. "The drama took place mainly in the media and in statements made by the Prime Minister before his departure for London. At no point was I contacted, in my capacity of chairman of the Jewish Home faction, with a request to shelve the legislation and not proceed according to the schedule established by the Knesset committee. I spoke with the coalition chairman yesterday morning and asked if there was a question, and the statement I received was that we work according to schedule."
Now that the law has been approved, how to pass the Supreme Court?
"Every issue central to the political field belongs in the Knesset which was elected by the people to lead the State of Israel. The entire question of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria should not be a legal matter. I refer the Supreme Court Justices and court President Naor to their own rulings, where again and again Knesset members are called upon to act, and yesterday we acted to normalize settlement in Judea and Samaria".
MK Mualem explains what will happen should the judges decide nevertheless to disqualify the regulation law: "If the Supreme Court rejects the law we would have two options: Proceeding to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria starting in Area C, and in parallel to proceed with the court limitation bill. We have now begun to recruit coalition cosponsors of the proposed law."
Has the era of Judean and Samarian Jewish home destruction ended?
"The regulation law does not apply to homes that have a final court judgment. At present we are making efforts to enable the residents of the nine houses in Ofra to move straight into another house. I pray not only that Jews not be expelled from their homes and communities no longer be destroyed, but that there should be a clearer understanding of the importance of paving and building in Judea and Samaria after years of moratorium, to build like they build everywhere according to supply and demand - and there is a lot of demand in Judea and Samaria."