Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu informed a closed session of his Likud faction on Monday that Israel is facing intense international pressure over West Bank Jewish communities.
Netanyahu assured his party that despite the pressure, his government plans to continue Jewish building in the Samaria and Judea regions.
“I am a prime minister who stood up to two very very difficult US presidents for 12 years,” Netanyahu said in reference to United States Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
“We built and we built and we built,” he added. “There is no and there will be no government that is as successful in repelling these pressures and maneuvering around them on the matter.”
The prime minister was responding to sharp criticism from Likud party lawmakers and activists that his coalition has not been sufficiently active in building and expanding Jewish communities in Israel’s disputed heartland.
Israeli nationalists consider West Bank construction important, both because of the Jewish people’s historic connection to the Samaria and Judea regions and because Jewish building is widely seen as the best method of resistance against the designs of Western powers to partition the country into two separate states.
Netanyahu told Likud activists on Monday that due to an “aggressive campaign” by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel, he is proceeding cautiously in order to make sure all construction be fully legal.
The prime minister’s statements came hours after politicians and activists renewed their push to legalize contentious Jewish villages in the wake of a shooting attack Sunday night outside the northern Judean town of Ofra.
Seven Jews, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman, were injured in the attack.
Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Ganz said Monday that “we shouldn’t need terror attacks to authorize [Jewish homes]. This Knesset session is almost over but there has been no change in the situation on the ground. There is good will. There is legislation, but no change.”
“Now is the time to spring to achieve results in this Knesset session,” he added.
Likud lawmakers expressed their frustration at the meeting over what they described as a lack of progress towards implementing a May 2017 security cabinet decision to regulate small Jewish activist communities, commonly referred to as “outposts.”
Roughly 15 of the original list of 100 outposts have already been legalized, with another 35 said to be in the process.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said Monday that the ICC has initiated a smear campaign against Israel’s government and Jewish West Bank residents.
Last week, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced she might open a criminal probe against Israel for alleged war crimes, including Jewish construction in the West Bank.
