National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party issued a thinly veiled warning on Sunday morning against the attorney general, saying that anyone opposing his party’s government resolution asserting “the values of Zionism” with regard to settlement “in the Land of Israel” would be voicing opposition to Zionism itself.
The government resolution, which is scheduled for a vote during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, has raised concerns that it could be used to legalize illegal West Bank settlement outposts and prioritize Jewish recipients in the allocation of social benefits.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has yet to submit a final written opinion on the resolution, but some Hebrew-language outlets reported Sunday that she strongly opposes the measure.
“Today is an important day on which we are bringing up a resolution in support of IDF soldiers, and Zionism as a guiding value. This is how we will [also] strive to develop the Negev and the Galilee,” said Ben Gvir before the start of the cabinet meeting.
“I am hearing that there are all sorts of voices who want to oppose this,” he continued. “Anyone who opposes our resolution, anyone who objects to our statement that Zionism should be a guiding value, anyone who objects to our statement in support of IDF soldiers, is in effect turning themselves into an opponent of Zionism. I very, very much hope that we will not hear these voices.”
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The government resolution proposed by Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of Otzma Yehudit bases the Zionist values it seeks to promote on those expressed in the controversial Basic Law: Nation State of the Jewish People.
Members of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, including party leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as well as Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf hold a party meeting at the illegal West Bank settlement outpost of Evyatar, February 27, 2023. (Courtesy: Otzma Yehudit)
Wasserlauf and the far-right Otzma party have adopted a goal of “Judaizing” the Negev and Galilee regions in light of the large Arab populations in those regions, and the “Zionist values” resolution may be part of the far-right party’s efforts to achieve that goal.
In April, Wasserlauf said during a tour of illegal Bedouin villages in the Negev that one of his goals as minister was “activities to increase Jewish settlement and its foundations in the Negev and Galilee.”
Back in February, the minister lamented what he said was the fact that just 14 percent of the population of the Galilee was Jewish, and that “an extra 135,000 Bedouin and Arabs” had been added to the region’s population over the last decade, compared to “just 1,200 Jews.”
Wasserlauf added that “Israeli governments and the State of Israel have never taken on Judaizing the Galilee as a project.”
The text of Wasserlauf’s proposed resolution states specifically that it is applicable to government agencies involved in land allocation and construction planning, such as the Israel Land Authority and the National Council for Planning and Construction.
The explanatory text of the resolution states that considerations used by the government and its various branches sometimes “ignore basic Zionist values,” specifically regarding the right to self-determination of the Jewish people “in the Land of Israel,” including “in [the field of] settlement, security, culture, and immigration.”
Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara attends a cabinet meeting held at the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 21, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The use of the phrase “the Land of Israel,” instead of the “State of Israel,” and Otzma Yehudit’s strong support for the West Bank settlement movement could also indicate that the resolution is designed in part to overcome legal problems faced by many West Bank settlements.
In the recently approved state budget, Wasserlauf secured NIS 450 million ($121 million) for his ministry to allocate towards development funds for local municipal authorities in the Negev, Galilee and wildcat outposts euphemistically termed “young settlements” for which the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Ministry is also responsible.
In addition, the focus of the resolution on giving preferential treatment to citizens who serve in the IDF or perform national service may be a way to provide some social benefits specifically to Jews, since the large majority of Arab citizens do not serve in the military or national service.
According to reports, Baharav-Miara was expected to issue an opinion opposing the resolution, arguing that the High Court of Justice only decided not to strike down Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People since government ministries and agencies could interpret it in line with existing values in Israel’s other Basic Laws, including principles prohibiting discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or religion.
Otzma Yehudit’s government resolution would seemingly make the principles of the Nation State law more applicable in a practical sense, allowing for preferential treatment of the Jewish population, which the attorney general will reportedly oppose.
