The Yesha Council of Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria has launched a new ad campaign to highlight their political strength within the Israeli Knesset against any future “Settlement Freeze”. For the second day in a row, the council has placed front page advertisements in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, showing a petition signed by no less than 20 members of Knesset deploring any form of building freeze both in and outside the so-called blocs. Although the advert initially appeared in the Hebrew-language paper on Sunday, it was also placed in the English version on Monday morning.

In response to the new campaign, Danny Dayan, Chief Foreign Envoy of the Yesha Council stated: “The Yesha Council specifically placed these advertisements in English so that nothing is lost in translation. We want the world to know that the residents of our communities in Judea and Samaria are an integral part of the Israeli electorate. The Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria are here to stay and we will not bend to any demands to put the lives of 372,000 Israeli men, women and children on hold.”

The quarter page open-letter from the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus, which was sponsored by the Council declares: “We have recently learned that there is a demand on the table that Israel agree to a construction and planning freeze in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria. We firmly oppose a moratorium of any kind, including a freeze “outside the settlement blocs” and view any Israeli commitments of this kind to be a game changer.”

The document was signed by:

1) Yariv Levine – The Likud Faction Chair

2) Orit Struck – The Knesset Land of Israel Caucus Chair

3) Ofir Akunis – Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office

4) Eli Ben-Dahan –Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs

5) Danny Danon – Deputy Defense Minister

6) Ze’ev Elkin – Deputy Foreign Minister

7) Tzipi Hotevely – Deputy Transportation Minister

8) Fania Kirshenbaum – Deputy Interior Minister

9) Avi Wortzman –Deputy Education Minister

10) Ayelet Shaked – Bayit Yehudi Faction Chair

11) Robert Ilatov – Israel Beitenu Faction Chair

12) Chaim Katz – Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee Chair

13) Miri Regev – Knesset Interior Affairs Committee Chair

14) Nissan Slomiansky – Knesset Finance Committee Chair

15) Mordechai Yogev – Knesset Judea & Samaria Committee Chair

16) Moshe Feiglin – Deputy Speaker of the Knesset

17) Yoni Chetboun – Deputy Speaker of the Knesset

18) Zevulun Khalifa

19) Shuli Moalem-Refaeli

20) Shimon Ochayon

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)