-- Finance Minister Betzalel Smotritch

I am not sure what he is talking about. Were the communities attacked in the October 7 massacre not settled? Were people not living there? Who were the victims of the massacre if people were not living there? If the soldiers would not be protecting the communities in Judea and Samaria, would they be safe just because people live there?

I also generally do not like it when Smotritch says the West Bank settlements are important because they create a security buffer for Israel. No citizen wherever he lives within the borders of Israel is meant to be a security buffer - not the people living in Judea and Samaria, not the people living in the Gaza envelope, not the people living near the border up north, or anywhere else within Israel. As long as Israel is responsible for the land, whatever that includes, Israel is responsible to keep the people living there safe. No one group of people or communities is supposed to be the buffer for another.