Outrage erupted Tuesday across Judea and Samaria following Britain’s decision, alongside several other countries, to advance trade restrictions on products from the region. Regavim and local authorities in Judea and Samaria accused the government in London of blatant interference in Israeli sovereignty, calling on the Israeli government to respond with firm measures and further strengthen Jewish communities throughout the area.
1+Regavim sharply condemned the move, saying that rather than confronting its own internal decline and chaos in its streets, Britain was attempting to interfere in Israeli sovereignty, while reminding London that the days of the White Paper are long over. The organization said Britain’s announcement continues what it described as nearly a century of hostile and antisemitic policy, recalling Britain’s restrictions on Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel on the eve of World War II.
Regavim also criticized longstanding British funding for ‘Palestinian’ activity in Judea and Samaria and demanded that the Israeli government immediately halt what it described as aggressive foreign interference in the homeland. Efrat Council head Col. (res.) Dovi Shefler said the British Mandate ended in May 1948, but that some in London apparently still have not internalized that fact. He noted that even then, the British government placed obstacles before the Jewish community while Arab terrorism raged.
1+Shefler stressed that the residents of Efrat and Judea and Samaria do not need permission from the British government to live, build and develop their homes in their own country. He said boycotts and sanctions would not weaken the communities, but instead serve as another reminder of the importance of continuing to strengthen them. The Efrat Council head called on the Israeli government to respond by urgently passing a decision returning the Solomon’s Pools heritage site to full Israeli control, which he said would correct a historic injustice created by the Oslo Accords.
Binyamin Regional Council head and Yesha Council chairman Israel Ganz described Britain’s decision as a “disgraceful antisemitic step,” stressing that the days when London could determine where Jews were permitted to live in the Land of Israel were over and would not return. Ganz accused Britain of assembling a coalition of pro-‘Palestinian’ countries to wage an “economic war” against Jews in Binyamin and across Judea and Samaria. He called for any financial damage caused to Israel and its citizens to be deducted and confiscated from funds belonging to the ‘Palestinian’ Authority. Ganz concluded that attempts to harm Jewish communities would fail, declaring that every such move should be met with more construction, more communities and the application of Israeli sovereignty.