Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke on Monday evening at the celebration in honor of Jerusalem Day at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva.

In his remarks, Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the opportunity and apply sovereignty over the territories of Judea and Samaria.

"We are applying sovereignty de facto, but we need to take advantage of the support we have from the United States and apply sovereignty," he said.

Smotrich listed his achievements on matters of new towns in Judea and Samaria, saying, "We declared 50 new communities. 50 communities that have been legalized and completely reestablished. We are developing and legalizing the farms that hold half a million dunams in Judea and Samaria, we approved 41,000 new housing units in Judea and Samaria, and additional steps."

He added, "We are investing seven billion shekels in roads in Judea and Samaria. By the way, at the festive government meeting held today in the City of David, we approved 17 government decisions related to building Jerusalem, and we approved two more decisions for two new towns in the north. This is also something that hasn’t been done in years."

Smotrich further noted that "in the past year, we approved the establishment of 11 towns in the Negev—something that hasn’t happened in years. Five towns near Arad, six along Highway 25."