Yesha Council head: Capitol riot shows I was right about Trump

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Neeman said the riots don't change the fact that Trump was supportive of Judea and Samaria.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Yesha Council head David Elhayani. (photo credit: YOUNG SETTLEMENTS FORUM)
Yesha Council head David Elhayani.
(photo credit: YOUNG SETTLEMENTS FORUM)
Yesha Council head David Elhayani is not among those on the right who are soul searching in the aftermath of Wednesday’s storming of the US Capitol building.
“What we saw yesterday in Washington, with the behavior of the US President, it was precisely the kind of behavior that I had feared,” Elhayani told The Jerusalem Post.
Earlier this year, Elhayani was pilloried by other Israeli Right-wingers for his verbal attacks on US President Donald Trump, stating that he was not “a friend of Israel.”
On Thursday, he explained that he had always feared what kind of steps an unchecked Trump could take.
Elhayani has said he has feared Trump’s support for a Palestinian state and that if he had won a second term, he would not have had any obligations to the voters and could renege on pledges to support Israel.
“During his second term, he could have taken drastic steps that were not in Israel’s interests, such as the creation of a Palestinian terror state,’ Elhayani said.
“His behavior yesterday showed that this was correct,” he added.
Nor was he worried about any boomerang effect against Trump’s policies in support of the settlements, noting that had existed at the declaratory level only.
“He didn’t do anything for the settlements. So, they said that the settlements were legal, but what did that lead to?” Elhayani added.
He noted that under the radar, the US had asked for restrictions on building and planning, including limiting to four times a year the number of times the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria should convene.
He noted in particular that there was a drop in the number of settler housing starts, despite the many plans that were approved during the Trump years.
Elhayani was equally unimpressed by Trump’s relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, noting that almost no one else followed the example and as such, the international community had still not recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“So how was this a supportive administration?,” he asked.
Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Neeman, who was among the settler leaders who had publicly prayed for Trump to win a second term, said he opposed the affront to democracy. He did not believe, however, that Wednesday’s events changed the fact that Trump had been supportive of Judea and Samaria.
“The steps he took in favor of the settlements were reflective of the larger support that exists within the United States for Israel and for Judea and Samaria,” Neeman said.


Related Tags
Settlements
yesha