Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar is giving unequivocal backing to a yeshiva situated illegally in the former West Bank settlement of Homesh.
The unauthorized yeshiva has been in the public eye recently following a deadly shooting attack on people traveling from the yeshiva to a nearby settlement.
Sa’ar tells Ynet that removing the yeshiva following the attack would send a message that terror would be rewarded and give the attackers an undeserved victory.
“I’m for settlement and I’m for the law, there’s no conflict between the two. The yeshiva, if they have classes there, does not constitute a new settlement,” he says.
Border Police officers prepare to raze illegal buildings at the wildcat Homesh outpost on December 24, 2021. (Courtesy Border Police)
“From time to time the question has arisen of whether we should establish a new settlement there or not, but it’s never been decided,” he adds.
He also says he supports retroactively legalizing any illicit settlement activity at the outpost.
Last week, Border Police officers demolished several buildings at the outpost built on private Palestinian land, but left the yeshiva standing, amid simmering tensions between the army and police, settlers, and Palestinians in the area.
Homesh was evacuated and demolished in 2005 along with three other settlements in the northern West Bank. Settlers have made several attempts since then to re-establish a presence there, including by maintaining the yeshiva.
From left: Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Information Minister Yuli Edelstein, and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz visit the evacuated settlement of Homesh in the West Bank in 2009. (Photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
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