Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, 12 Cheshvan, called Bayit Yehudi’s bill to legalize Amona “childish and irresponsible”. Mr. Netanyahu continued applying pressure in an effort to persuade Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Minister Ayelet Shaked to hold off bringing the bill for a vote, even for a day, but they told him they would not comply, insisting the bill would be voted on later in the day, following the cabinet meeting.

The Prime Minister explained the government had requested from the High Court that the end of 2016 deadline for the destruction of Amona be extended however at the time of the weekly meeting, the High Court had yet to respond.

He added “I would like to say something on the issue pf Amona, to lift the cloud, and clarify the situation regarding its approval. Approximately two weeks ago, the government filed a motion to postpone by six months the implementation of the court order to evacuate Amona. This motion was filed with the approval of the heads of all of the coalition parties. The Attorney General clearly says that raising the normalization law before the High Court of Justice responds, could severely harm – and it has severely harmed – the chance of a postponement. On the other hand, there is also time to raise the bill so that it passes in time, in case the postponement is rejected. Therefore, today, at the meeting of the heads of the coalition parties, we will consider, sagaciously and responsibly, the possibilities before us. I would like to emphasize that there is no one who is more concerned about settlement than us. Here as well, sagacity and responsibility are needed for the benefit of the settlements”.

The so-called Normalization Bill is designed to retroactively legalize outposts in an effort to circumvent a High Court of Justice ruling to evict residents from Amona and destroy the community.

The bill would also apply to other outposts and prevent the destruction of other homes such as nine homes in Yishuv Ofra which the court ruled were also built on private Arab land and must therefore be destroyed.

As the cabinet met residents of Ofra and their supporters protested outside, calling on the cabinet to approve the bill.

As Bennett and Shaked insisted they would be moving forward with the bill against Mr. Netanyahu’s wishes, unwilling to comply with his request for a delay, Mr. Netanyahu labeled the bill “childish and irresponsible”, leading to a verbal clash between Mr. Netanyahu and Naftali Bennet.

Adding to the pressure against Bennett and Shaked, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that moving forward with the bill may lead to the High Court rejecting the state’s request to delay the deadline for the destruction of Amona.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)