Minister denies that Netanyahu has dismissed the Levy Report on West Bank settlements

Israel’s Minister of Information and Diaspora has denied media claims that his ministry plans to withdraw the recent Levy Report. The controversial report calls for settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank to be legalised.

Yuli Edelstein said that he expects the committee which drafted the report, headed by retired Judge Edmund Levy, to present the document to the Ministerial Settlements Affairs Committee for official approval.

According to Haaretz newspaper, an Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears the repercussions of approving such a report. “Netanyahu fears that raising the issue now would generate a major international controversy,” claims Haaretz.

Separate media reports allege that Netanyahu rejected the demand made by a number of ministers (who are also members of the committee) to discuss the Levy Report during a meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Settlement Affairs.