Smotrich vows more settlements as EU sanctions extremist settlers

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel will further entrench its settlements in the West Bank in response to new sanctions announced by the EU against extremist settlers.

“The false BDS campaign against the State of Israel is working. A campaign which is designed in its entirety to besmirch the State of Israel,” says Smotrich, who as a minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in the West Bank has strongly promoted settlement expansion during the course of the current government.

The minister, who heads the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party and himself lives in the settlement of Kedumim, claims that any violence by settlers is dealt with by the justice system.

“There is one, holistic, Zionist response to this [EU] declaration – strengthening and entrenching settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich concludes.