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Shaked’s party to leave government if settlement freeze is agreed

July 24, 2021 at 11:02 am

Israel’s Interior Minister and former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked attends the launch of the political party “Yemina” on 12 August 2019 in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan. [JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images]

Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has confirmed that her Yamina party will leave the coalition government if it agreed to a request from the Biden administration to implement a building freeze in West Bank settlements, Israeli media reported on Friday.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Israeli Makor Rishon newspaper, Shaked spoke about her party’s red lines.

“If the government does something that is ideologically serious in my view, we will not be a part of it. For example, if the US administration demands a freeze in the West Bank [settlement building], there will be no government,” the Yamina MK asserted.

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The US administration has not requested freezing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the current Israeli government headed by Naftali Bennet is unlikely to accept such a request.

Following the agreement on the coalition government, settler leaders said that they had been promised that no freeze on building settlements would occur.

Meanwhile, commenting on the ideology of the different parties, Bennet has stated: “No one will be asked to give up their ideology, but everyone will have to postpone the realisation of some of their dreams.”