The New York Times on Friday published a transcript of a recording of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a meeting talking to residents of Judea and Samaria. In it he is heard telling them that the Israeli government is engaged in a stealthy effort to irreversibly change the way the region is governed without being accused of formally annexing it.
The goal of the plan is to prevent Judea and Samaria from becoming part of a Palestinian state.
“I’m telling you, it’s mega-dramatic,” Smotrich told those at the meeting. Such changes change a system’s DNA.”
In the comments, Smotrich outlined a carefully orchestrated program to take authority over Judea and Samaria out of the hands of the IDF and turn it over to civilians working in the Defense Ministry.
Smotrich’s plan works for the time being. While sources on the left race to report this as a clandestine effort, Smotrich is doing what the people voted for him to do; working to positively advance the development of Judea and Samaria. What he’s also really doing is trying to prevent Judea and Samaria from becoming part of a terrorist state. We hope his plan will suffice until full sovereignty is applied .