16 June 2022; MEMO: Leader of Israel's Religious Zionism alliance, Bezalel Smotrich, is planning to propose a bill to the Knesset asking it to vote on applying Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, Israel's Channel 7 reported yesterday.
The Israeli TV station reported sources from the Religious Zionism alliance saying: "We see that the coalition is passing through hard times due to the internal differences regarding the passing of the emergency regulation bill" related to the occupied West Bank, criticising Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman for saying they have done more than any other right-wing government.
Israel Hayom reported Smotrich saying: "Zionism is more important than any small politics."
Smotrich's proposal was welcomed by settlers' leaders. Yochai Damari, head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, said that Israeli sovereignty must be applied "immediately" in the West Bank.
"The only population that pays taxes, volunteers in the army and all rescue centres but is still without sovereign rights. It is time to abolish this historical injustice," he said of the almost 750,000 illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank.
If passed, the bill would see Israeli laws applied in the occupied West Bank, which will then become part of Israel through annexation.
