Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin said on Wednesday that “the time has come” to extend Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.
The government is facing “a moment of historic opportunity we cannot miss,” said Levin during a meeting with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. “The time has come to apply sovereignty,” he added.
“We are constantly working to promote it—in the fields of infrastructure, in the fields of legislation—strengthening the communities in Judea and Samaria and throughout all parts of the Land [of Israel],” he declared.
“This issue must be at the top of the national agenda,” Levin continued. “It is essential, first and foremost, to realize our rights to the land. It is also vital for enhancing security, as well as doing justice for the residents and the settlement enterprise, who deserve to be full and equal citizens, and live in communities that are part of the sovereign State of Israel.”
Dagan in a statement issued by his office thanked the justice minister for his support for the 500,000-plus Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.
“We are in a historic time,” said Dagan. “It is clear to everyone that Samaria and Judea are the protective wall of the State of Israel.”
“After Oct. 7, now that the entire Middle East is changing … it is our duty today to apply full sovereignty to the communities in Judea and Samaria,” he said of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel’s south.
“I call on the prime minister and Cabinet ministers to apply sovereignty, and your support, honorable minister, is acute,” Dagan said to Levin.
On May 28, Knesset lawmakers passed a non-binding motion declaring their formal support for extending sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
“With the understanding that these parts of the Land are inseparable from the homeland of the Jewish people, in light of the broad Israeli consensus against a Palestinian state, and to prevent the recurrence of the Oct. 7 disaster—applying Israeli law is a moral and necessary step for security and the realization of the Zionist vision,” the motion read.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also has authority over civilian matters in Judea and Samaria, subsequently directed his office staff to prepare practical plans for Israeli sovereignty over the area.
Smotrich instructed the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Settlement Administration to “formulate an operational plan for applying sovereignty, and we will not stop until the entire area receives its full legal status and becomes an inseparable part of the State of Israel,” the minister revealed on June 5.
Israeli Cabinet ministers and lawmakers since the Oct. 7 massacre have expressed their broad support for sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, while rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state in the area.
In February, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said that full control over the territories would be the “one and only way” to achieve peace in the area.
Four months ago, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, said Israel should not miss the “crucial historic opportunity” for sovereignty.