In an interview with Israel National News-Arutz Sheva, Finance Minister and Religious Zionism Chairman Bezalel Smotrich discussed the criticism against him regarding the eviction at the A'ira Shahar hill in the Binyamin Region: "I know how to stop enforcement in places that have regulation on the horizon."
The Minister opened by stating: "I take criticism with love, that's my job. I love righteous people who want to settle every place in the land of Israel. I also agree that this concept of 'private land' is fluid. No one believes that you have to go over to an Arab who's working the land and take it from him; that's not the discussion. These are abandoned lands, no one knows who owns them."
Smotrich explained: "I want to lay everything out on the table. There are constraints, and there are restrictions, and there are restrictions. With the current judicial infrastructure, it is not something that we know how to solve or regulate, and since it doesn't regulation is not on the horizon, I don't know how to prevent enforcement. I know how to stop enforcement in places that have regulation on the horizon, with a government decision to regulate it."
The Minister concluded: "Currently, these lands are classified as private. Legally there is no way to regulate these buildings tomorrow morning, and therefore I have no way to prevent enforcement. There is what's wanted, and there is what there is. From the moment I entered politics and took responsibility, I have lived in the world of what is. I wish we were able to solve a lot of legal issues. By the way, we are dealing with some of them."