Netanyahu delays vote on sovereignty over Ma’ale Adumim for 2nd time

For the second time since, lawmakers agreed to delay a vote on sovereignty over the first and largest city in Judea and Samaria, heeding Netanyahu’s request to coordinate with Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to delay a decision on the annexation of Ma’ale Adumim that was expected to be voted on by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation this coming Sunday.

Launched by 23 families in 1975, Ma’ale Adumim, located seven kilometers (4.3 miles) east of Jerusalem, has approximately 400,000 residents and is the largest city in Judea and Samaria.

Netanyahu had asked to delay voting on a bill to extend sovereignty to the city in order to coordinate with the Trump administration on the issue of Jewish construction and sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

Lawmakers Yoav Kish (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), chairmen of the Knesset Land of Israel Lobby, agreed to postpone the vote but plan to raise the issue again at next week’s Committee meeting.

The bill is a “significant [development] in the historical struggle for Israel’s security and the integrity of Jerusalem,” Ma’ale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel stated on Thursday, Israel National News reported. “As we [applied sovereignty] in the Golan and in Jerusalem, it is the same [in Ma’ale Adumim], and we must therefore apply sovereignty immoderately. There is no such thing as [waiting] until the time is right.”

It was the second time that Netanyahu succeeded in delaying the vote, and for the same reason. In January he stated, “On the issue of settlement [Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria], none are more concerned about it than the Likud government and I, and we will continue to look out for it wisely and responsibly, for the benefit of the settlement enterprise and the State of Israel,”

By: World Israel News Staff