Bezalel Smotrich says he aims to establish sovereignty over occupied territory and thwart a Palestinian state
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has described in explicit terms his active effort to annex the West Bank to Israel, days afterSpeaking at a meeting of his Religious Zionism party, Smotrich told colleagues that he was “establish facts on the ground in order to make Judea and Samaria an integral part of the state of Israel”.
The comments by Smotrich echoed recorded remarks he made at a gathering of supporters in the West Bank, first disclosed, in which he appeared to refer to the administrative changes as “mega-dramatic”. He was quoted as saying: “Such changes change a system’s DNA.” An order posted by the Israel Defense Forces on its website on 29 May transferred responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration from the military to officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry.
Speaking after the transfer of powers was disclosed, Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said: “The bottom line is that anyone who thought the question of annexation was foggy, this order should end any doubts.” The transfer of laws, which was largely unremarked upon in Israel, follows a years-long campaign by pro-settlement politicians to accrue many of the legal powers previously wielded by the military chain of command.
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