
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) on Monday spoke about the Social Cabinet's decision to recommend that the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet not allow the entry of Palestinian Authority Arab workers to construction sites or other fields.
The recommendation led the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet to decide not to approve their entry.
"In the Civilian Cabinet discussion, we saw the discrepancies which exist right now in the foreign workers' market," Smotrich told Kan Reshet Bet. "We believe that we can handle the discrepancies by means of grants, as we gave previously, and massive imports of more foreign workers. The relevant ministries have already taken upon themselves to make more effort, and the Prime Minister took it upon himself to deal with this in the international sphere as well."
"Our citizens' security is what is most important. We need to understand that as of today, according to the polls, 80% of Arabs in Judea and Samaria support the massacre. These are enemies of the State, and a country which desires life does not bring in it's enemy's citizens during a time of war."
Smotrich stressed that, "Money does not buy quiet. There were some in the defense echelon who said that if we do not allow them to come in and work, then there won't be quiet, and that is exactly what they said about Gaza until two months ago. At the essence, we are talking about the same Nazis and ISIS who hate us. At the end of the day, the war is between nations. We need to understand that we are talking about a dangerous enemy who wants to destroy us, and the only reason that the Arabs in Judea and Samaria have not carried out a massacre until now is that they do not have the ability. The settlements in Judea and Samaria protect us and protect millions of Israeli civilians in Kfar Saba, Netanya, and Tel Aviv."
"We are at war, and war has consequences. Even in the Security Cabinet, no one discussed bringing workers into cities, because if they would allow them to enter the cities, the leaders of the local authorities would completely shut the sites. Even if there is a problem, bringing Arabs in from Judea and Samaria will worsen the problem, because the mayors will close the sites. We are hurrying up processes, and allowing contractors and private agencies to bring in foreign workers."
Smotrich concluded, "There are very few countries who have construction like we have here. There are many places in the world where there is smart building, which requires a lot less working hands. That requires work on our part, but it is something that needs to be done, and the Cabinet yesterday tasked the Housing Ministry with doing work on this issue. The security of Israel's citizens comes first."