Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently told workers of the Civil Administration, the Defense Ministry body in charge of Israeli and Palestinian civil affairs in the West Bank, that he hopes to shut down the department as part of Israeli annexation of the West Bank, Ynet reports.
“I hope we’ll have a great opportunity with the new US administration to create full normalization [of Israeli rule] and bring government ministries in here,” he is quoted as telling Civil Administration officials.
“There will be an orderly process, and we’re working now on solidifying the administrative work and putting the plan on the table.”
He added: “This is a serious statement, I’ve spoken with the prime minister about it and we are taking it very, very seriously. I also spoke with the designated ambassador to Washington, Dr. Yechiel Leiter. We are trying to create a real process here. There is a lot of work involved, but this was once an impossible reality, and we can make it a reality.”
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 5, 2024
