The State Department has repeatedly called on Israel to refrain from any moves that escalate tensions with Palestinians, like formalizing settler outposts.
"We are concerned by today’s provocative visit to the Temple Mount... and the accompanying inflammatory rhetoric," read the official statement.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi David Stav stated that Religious Zionism became a cause for separation rather than a bridge "as it used to be."
Members of the Security Council have been negotiating a draft resolution on Israeli settlements in the West Bank drafted by the United Arab Emirates in coordination with the Palestinians.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the Biden administration had clarified its opposition to settlement activity.
Though these outposts have only officially become settlements recently, they have been around for much longer.
The government agreed to split the hilltop community of Kochav Yaakov into two settlements, despite European and American opposition.
Yitzhak Goldknopf said that based on visits he had made there, "part of the solution to the housing crisis lies in these areas!"
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