Smotrich warns establishment of Palestinian state is a looming ‘tangible danger’
Finance minister says ‘international involvement’ is pushing for the establishment of a Palestinian state and ‘the time to act is now’
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a group of settlement mayors Wednesday night that the establishment of a Palestinian state was becoming a “tangible danger” due to international efforts advancing the cause.
He also informed them of his efforts to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene a key administrative body in order to authorize new construction plans in the Israeli West Bank settlements.
According to Smotrich’s office, the finance minister outlined during the meeting with settler leaders in the Finance Ministry what he described as “the tangible, developing danger” that a Palestinian state would be established through “international involvement” and the “consent of leftist elements” in Israel.
Present at the meeting were Israel Ganz, recently named the new chairman of Yesha Council settlement umbrella body, and the mayors of the biggest West Bank settlements including Beitar Illit, Modiin Illit and Maale Adumim.
“It’s unthinkable that October 7, the day on which the worst and most dreadful massacre was carried out since the Holocaust, will be the day of the foundation of a Palestinian state,” the far-right minister said.
“A Palestinian state would constitute a severe threat to the State of Israel and we must prevent it with all the tools at our disposal. The time to act against the dangerous idea of establishing a Palestinian state is now. The countries of the world are advancing it and it is more dangerous than ever,” said Smotrich.
The United Nations General Assembly could vote on Friday to recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full UN member state and recommend that the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
And the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last week that at least five EU countries are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May — Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Malta.
Smotrich also updated the settler leaders on his efforts to drive forward settlement construction.
He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of preventing the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, which approves construction plans in the settlements, from being convened, and said he was pushing Netanyahu to end what he described as a “de facto freeze” on settlement construction in the West Bank.
Despite Smotrich’s comments, the Higher Planning Committee convened as recently as March 6 and approved plans for the construction of 3,426 housing units in the settlements.
Smotrich’s office described that round of approvals as minor compared to the last time the committee convened in June 2023 when it approved 5,700 housing settlement homes, and said the March meeting happened only as a response to a terror attack outside Maale Adumim in February.
Smotrich also has the authority to convene the committee himself due to his position as a minister in the Defense Minister with authority over the Civil Administration. Channel 12 reported on Wednesday that Smotrich sent a letter to Netanyahu, threatening that he would convene the committee unless Netanyahu told him otherwise within four days.
