Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister in the Defense ministry, sent an urgent letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, noting that the Israeli government is de facto freezing construction plans in Judea and Samaria - a situation which is unacceptable to him.
"The last time the Supreme Planning Council gathered to approve construction plans throughout Judea and Samaria was in June 2023," Smotrich noted in his letter.
"In February 2024, the Planning Council gathered to approve specific construction plans for Maaleh Adumim and Efrat, in response to a horrific terror attack carried out near Maaleh Adumim. By the way, the practice of approving construction plans only in response to terror attacks is inappropriate, in my opinion. The settlements must constantly be advanced."
Smotrich emphasized that "this reality, in which there is a de facto construction freeze when it comes to approving plans in Judea and Samaria, is unacceptable and untenable, and provides a prize for terror. I will no longer be able to accept it. It is unthinkable that these Hamas-ISIS Nazis who went out to commit a horrific massacre of Israeli citizens should receive the prize they wish, and harm our hold on areas of our birthplace in Judea and Samaria."
"The war which we are currently fighting teaches us that strengthening the settlements in Judea and Samaria is critical to the security of the State, and especially to towns along the 'seam line,' such as Kfar Saba, and the towns of Bat Hefer and many others, besides for the obvious importance inherent in developing areas of our land," he stressed.
Noting a June 2023 amendment which cancels the requirement that the political echelon approve the Planning Council's meetings for construction approval, Smotrich claimed that "the only reason" why there has been no approval of plans is "Netanyahu's instruction on the matter."
"I demand that you approve the immediate meeting of the Supreme Planning Council in order to approve all of the ready plans for advancement, from a professional standpoint and in accordance with the needs of the settlement, and thus end the freeze on approval of construction plans which has been decreed on the settlements in Judea and Samaria for the past year," Smotrich concluded.