PM Netanyahu Blocks Vote to Apply Sovereignty Throughout Judea and Samaria

Pictured Above: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting at the Prime Ministers office in Jerusalem on January 28, 2018. Photo by Alex Kolomoisky/POOL.

(JNS) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday blocked a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on a bill which would gradually apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

The Judea and Samaria sovereignty bill, submitted by Knesset Member Yoav Kish (Likud) calls for “unrestricted construction and to extend Israeli law and sovereignty” throughout Israeli-controlled areas in the West Bank.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is responsible for determining which proposals are adopted by the majority-ruling coalition. Bills supported by the committee are effectively guaranteed passage in parliament.

Netanyahu blocked the committee’s vote on the bill, instructing that a vote would only take place if the proposal was first coordinated with the US administration.