Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects pressure from his right wing, which is seeking to pass the controversial Regulation Bill this week.
According to unconfirmed media reports, Netanyahu is seeking to delay the final votes on the bill to legalize several thousand West Bank settlement homes built illegally on private Palestinian property until after he meets with new US President Donald Trump on February 15.
But his ruling coalition’s far right, especially ministers from the Jewish Home party, are vowing to move ahead on Monday with the final parliamentary votes on the Regulation Bill.
“I’m always hearing fake ultimatums,” Netanyahu tells reporters at Ben Gurion International Airport as he boards a plane to London for meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.
Such ultimatums, he adds dismissively, “don’t excite me.” He pins various rumors about the bill’s status on “false briefings to the media.”
He concludes: “I’m busy running the country. And as I run the country I think only about our overarching interest.”
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