Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) spoke to Arutz Sheva on Sunday at the 2017 AIPAC policy conference.
“We are in a new era in Israel-America relations. We used to be in a position when we couldn’t even put one brick in Jerusalem. This administration understands that the ‘settlements’ are not an obstacle to peace, and I think that this acknowledgement is maybe the most important thing when we speak about any future arrangement in the region,” she said.
“I think that now, 50 years after the Six Day War, it’s about time for us to say in a very clear way: Half a million Jews live in a Jewish land. We’re not occupiers in our own land. And this is why we have the natural right to build in Judea and Samaria. The most important thing is for the American administration to understand the needs of those communities, where after eight years of having no ability to plan new buildings, I think it’s about time for us to say: We need this like air to breathe,” continued Hotovely.
Referring to President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, Hotovely said, “By June 1 we’ll all know what’s happening with that. The administration said in a very clear way: We’re working on it, we’re thinking about it. Every president should consider the consequences of the fact that he’s doing something that is historical. It’s very clear that our capital is Jerusalem. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years, and I think it’s about time that all the embassies in the world should be in Jerusalem.