Israel’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation is scheduled to discuss on Tuesday a bill applying Israeli sovereignty to Ma’ale Adumim settlement which is located east of occupied Jerusalem.
The bill was submitted by Knesset Land of Israel lobby heads MKs Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) during the high-profile visit of a key Trump envoy to the region.
According to Channel 10 officials in Netanyahu’s office have been trying to convince the authors of the bill Smotrich and Likud’s MK Yoav Kisch not to bring it to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation meeting scheduled for Tuesday in order to avoid forcing ministers to choose between potentially alienating a friendly new administration or alienating part of the right-wing base.
However Kisch and Smotrich refused the request and said a bill on the Ma’ale Adumim annexation issue will be presented for immediate approval on Tuesday.
“There is no justification for hiding from our friend across the sea the widespread public and political support for applying Israeli sovereignty to Ma’ale Adumim as a first step” Smotrich said in a statement.
The request came shortly after a five-hour meeting in occupied Jerusalem between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jason Greenblatt US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy.
