The coalition must not allow evacuation of the West Bank Homesh yeshiva or countenance any delay in the authorization of a seminary on the Evyatar hilltop, right-wing politicians and settler leaders said over the weekend.
“This faltering government has no majority, and no mandate to evacuate Homesh,” the co-chairs of the Land of Israel caucus MKs Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Orit Struck (Religious Zionist Party) said over the weekend.
They spoke out in response to a Channel 12 report that Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) had informed MK Idit Silman (Yamina) of the Evyatar delay and the pending Homesh evacuation when the two met on Wednesday.
״The evacuation of Homesh is a withdrawal from the territory that is part of the Land of Israel and a reward for terrorism. We call on each coalition member that is part of the caucus to announce that a Homesh evacuation is a red line for them,” Kisch and Struck said.
They spoke out amid a government crisis, in which Silman’s resignation from the coalition has brought its membership down from 61 to 60, removing its majority in a 120-member parliament.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, in whose region both Evyatar and Homesh are located, warned that he would take action if Gantz made good on his statements to Silman.
“We will embark on a public struggle that will shock the nation. Settlement in Samaria will not be dragged down by a cynical internal political struggle between different parts of this government,” Dagan said.
On Tuesday he and Silman were among thousands who marched to the Homesh hilltop to demand that Gantz authorize the yeshiva there.
With respect to Evyatar, the government struck a deal last year with settlers to authorize a yeshiva and a settlement in exchange for a voluntary evacuation of the site by some 50 families who had illegally moved there.