After heated debate, cabinet approves building 5 new communities in the Negev

Cabinet ministers voted to approve the establishment of five new communities in the Negev during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, after a heated exchange between the disparate members of the ruling coalition.

The five communities — four Jewish and one Bedouin — are slated to be built around the southern city of Arad. The proposal was brought forward by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin, and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.

“Our foremost obligation is to provide personal security for the residents of the south. We have started on this journey and we will not stop. At the same time, we are continuing to settle and develop the Negev,” Bennett said.

During the discussion of the proposal, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg — who voted against it — reportedly got into a tense confrontation.

“You have a fierce hatred for Jewish settlement. It’s sick,” Sa’ar was quoted as saying by the Walla news outlet.

“I will not be graded on Zionism by you, with all due respect,” Zandberg is quoted as saying.

“I will give you grades, in this and in other areas,” Sa’ar shot back.

“Do not raise your voice at me. What kind of style is this? Disgusting, you should be ashamed of yourself,” she replied. “You are both wrong and misleading. Giving out grades here — that’s insolence.”

Zandberg later commented on the spat between her and Sa’ar.

“We formed this government, among other things, to stop fueling a discourse of hatred and incitement between populations and sectors, and between right and left,” she said.

“I was very sorry to see the justice minister echo these attitudes in his comments, contrary to the spirit of the government and the purpose for which it was established.”

It was the latest in a series of interpersonal disputes that has chipped away at the already fragile coalition.

On Saturday, it was reported that Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz were engaged in a spat over the latter’s desire to attend an upcoming meeting in Ramallah between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Bennett allegedly put the kibosh on Gantz’s participation, feeling it would distract from the summit in southern Israel between the foreign ministers of Israel, the US, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt, which is set to begin on Sunday.

This was not the only issue the two ministers had with each other last week. On Thursday, Gantz announced that he would embark on a planned trip to India on Tuesday, four days before Bennett is scheduled to go there. The announcement of Gantz’s trip caught the Prime Minister’s Office off-guard, according to Haaretz, which cited an Israeli official who said that the minister was trying to upstage Bennett by traveling ahead of him.

The incident highlighted an apparent breakdown in coordination between the two men’s offices.

The tension between them dates back to the early days of this government, which is seen as divided into two distinct approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.