Smotrich says government starting ‘on the right foot’ by pledging to legalize Homesh

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a longtime advocate for Jewish sovereignty in the West Bank, says the new government has started its term “on the right foot” by announcing that it will act to legalize the contentious Homesh settlement outpost.

“These are changes in direction from the government’s position toward settlement in Homesh, and in fact a start on the government’s right foot when it comes to settlement in the Land of Israel,” Smotrich says before his Religious Zionism party’s Knesset faction meeting.

Earlier today, the state reversed the previous coalition’s position on how to handle the West Bank’s Homesh yeshiva, which has been repeatedly built and destroyed following the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank, which prohibited Jewish entry into the destroyed settlement.

Along with Smotrich, who is also an independent minister in the Defense Ministry, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Justice Minister Yariv Levin took part in formulating the government’s new position, which is that the Homesh yeshiva will be legalized rather than evacuated. This position was presented to the High Court of Justice this morning.