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Jul 29, 2015
Neetanyahu rehashes old promises to keep the DL happy
I have not paid too much attention to what happened with those houses in Bet El, why these were ordered to be demolished and others were not. It is clearly a legal dispute rather than a political one, but I don't really know the details.
That being said, as compensation for the need to demolish these houses, Netanyahu has ordered to grant immediate approval for the construction of 300 homes in Bet El, along with some more in different areas around Jerusalem. I heard Minister Zeev Elkin on the radio earlier this afternoon and he explained that it is not compensation for anything, but with the leftists fighting tooth and nail to get buildings demolished through the courts, the answer by the National Camp that was chosen by the people will be to build more. They can make us knock down 2 buildings, but we will build 300 more.
Very nice.
Except that it was discovered that the 300 buildings to be built immediately are the 300 Netanyahu already promised last time he dismantled houses in Bet El (when he cut those buildings out of the ground and moved them). So these 300 announced now are not new, just a statement that the old promise will be rehashed again.
I wonder if Netanyahu is trying to see how many times he can make the same promise and have the Habayit Hayehudi people repeatedly fall for it.
I don't know if this is an issue that should necessarily force them to bring down the government, or not, though in the old Mafdal days, this would have been the issue. It seems Bennet is trying to move Habayit Hayehudi away from the position that settlement construction is the number one issue for the DL politicians and community, as the threats seem to have come mostly from the Tekuma faction.
Whether it is or is not, the acceptance of a Netanyahu promise about this, when he has promised so many houses around different places that just never happened, and after the government formation in which Netanyahu basically broke his promises to them and treated them like a third wheel until nearly the last day, should definitely be taken with careful consideration. They should know in advance he won't come through in the end. They should know in advance that his promises need to be taken with a shaker of salt.
That being said, as compensation for the need to demolish these houses, Netanyahu has ordered to grant immediate approval for the construction of 300 homes in Bet El, along with some more in different areas around Jerusalem. I heard Minister Zeev Elkin on the radio earlier this afternoon and he explained that it is not compensation for anything, but with the leftists fighting tooth and nail to get buildings demolished through the courts, the answer by the National Camp that was chosen by the people will be to build more. They can make us knock down 2 buildings, but we will build 300 more.
Very nice.
Except that it was discovered that the 300 buildings to be built immediately are the 300 Netanyahu already promised last time he dismantled houses in Bet El (when he cut those buildings out of the ground and moved them). So these 300 announced now are not new, just a statement that the old promise will be rehashed again.
I wonder if Netanyahu is trying to see how many times he can make the same promise and have the Habayit Hayehudi people repeatedly fall for it.
I don't know if this is an issue that should necessarily force them to bring down the government, or not, though in the old Mafdal days, this would have been the issue. It seems Bennet is trying to move Habayit Hayehudi away from the position that settlement construction is the number one issue for the DL politicians and community, as the threats seem to have come mostly from the Tekuma faction.
Whether it is or is not, the acceptance of a Netanyahu promise about this, when he has promised so many houses around different places that just never happened, and after the government formation in which Netanyahu basically broke his promises to them and treated them like a third wheel until nearly the last day, should definitely be taken with careful consideration. They should know in advance he won't come through in the end. They should know in advance that his promises need to be taken with a shaker of salt.
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"It seems Bennet is trying to move Habayit Hayehudi away from the position that settlement construction is the number one issue..."
ReplyDeleteThat's long gone. The question is whether BY will make settlement DESTRUCTION any kind of show-stopper.
"his promises need to be taken with a shaker of salt"
ReplyDeleteOnly one shaker? What an understatement about Netanyahu and his promises -- in all areas.
I actually think that the 300 were promised three years ago, but yesterday they were actually finally approved for construction, tractors were sent immediately to start infrastructure work, and this afternoon is the cornerstone laying in Beit El.
ReplyDeleteThe real problem is that eal estate interests throughout israel (just like in the US) oppose new construction, cause it (might) devalue the high value of existing homes.
ReplyDeleteThat includes big real estate owners, and mom and pop owners.
There's no eal constituency for new construction. Even charedim, who ostensibly want new construction, are limited by their internal powers who own real estate.