Right-wing lawmakers and officials expressed outrage Wednesday over the Biden administration's criticism of Israel's planned settlement construction in Judea and Samaria.
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On Tuesday, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was "deeply concerned about the Israeli government's plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep in the West Bank." He also said that Israel's plans to retroactively "illegal outposts" were "unacceptable."
Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, spoke out harshly against the department and called on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett "and the Foreign Ministry to put the State Department spokesman and the US charge d'affaires in their place and make it clear to them that the British Mandate and Ottoman rule have long ended."
He added that Israel had to deal with opposition from Washington in the past and that this time "it is not Biden. It is Bennett. Half a million Israelis [in Judea and Samaria] are not second-class citizens."
Religious Zionist Party MK Orit Strock also lambasted the prime minister.
"What are the chances that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did not know about this predictable move? What are the chances that he did not know in advance about the Biden administration's fierce opposition? she asked ironically, and called on Bennet to "let them build in Judea and Samaria."
Earlier on Wednesday, the meeting of the Central Planning Bureau of the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration – during which it was expected to approve the Judea and Samaria construction plans – was canceled due to a labor dispute.
However, the Finance Ministry convened for an urgent meeting and came to an agreement with the workers, and announced that the meeting would go ahead as planned.
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