Right-wing politicians oppose the home demolitions, but have been hard pressed to offer the residents more than words of support.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: NOVEMBER 27, 2017 07:19Summer rally for the Netiv Ha'avot Outpost in front of the Knesset. (photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must act to save the 15 homes in the Netiv Ha’avot outpost slated for demolition in March, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday evening at an indoor protest event in the small Gush Etzion settlement.“I call on the prime minister, if you want very much to save Netiv Ha’avot, we will support you, and we will stand behind you,” said Bennett, who heads the Bayit Yehudi party in the coalition.He added that he had not given up hope that a solution could be found to stave off the demolitions.Bennett was one of a number of right-wing ministers and politicians who spoke at the protest against a High Court of Justice order to demolish the homes after a land survey discovered that they were not built on state land.The state intends to authorize the remaining 26 homes in the outpost.Right-wing politicians oppose the demolition, but have been hard pressed to offer the residents more than words of support.“I’m embarrassed because I have not succeeded in giving you want you want,” said MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) said.“I am here to strengthen you, to lower my hat to you and to draw strengthen from you. We must make sure that nothing like this happens again,” he said.Normalization and the application of sovereignty to the area, he added, was the best way to prevent “absurd” situations such as this one.Likud MK Sharren Haskel said she was embarrassed to come because she did not know how to change the court decree. Looking to the future, she said, the best response must be the authorization of additional settlements.MK Oren Hazan, meanwhile, said he believed politicians could make changes and should work to do so instead of throwing the gauntlet at the prime minister.“Anyone who sits in the government today has a hand in this matter,” he said.Other politicians who spoke included Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) and Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant (Kulanu).The HCJ ruling has made it difficult for politicians and the state to find a way to stave off the demolitions.
