Minister of Agriculture (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel on Sunday morning 11 Tammuz gave an interview to Tel Aviv Radio. During that interview he explained that at the Sunday weekly cabinet meeting, the matter of preventing the expulsion and demolition of Amona was going to be on the agenda, but this was now in doubt since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had removed it from the agenda.

Ariel stated PM Netanyahu “is approaching a red line”, adding this refers to both Amona and the lack of construction throughout Yehuda and Shomron. He added that while he supports declaring Israeli sovereignty over Maale Adumim, this is not a matter that is a coalition-breaker since it was not discussed or included in coalition agreements.

At present, there is a growing number of cabinet ministers who have come out absolutely supporting an arrangement to circumvent the High Court decision compelling the destruction of Amona for a second time. This includes ministers from PM Netanyahu’s Likud party.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)