Interior Minister not concerned that Biden’s visit will harm the settlement enterprise, believes the government will continue to oppose establishment of consulate for Palestinian Arabs.
“This is an important visit, it is always important when the President of the United States comes to Israel and overall the relations with the Democratic administration are good and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett promoted them. For an entire year, no consulate [for Palestinian Arabs] was opened in Jerusalem, and with good reason. Bennett insisted on this with the backing of us all. There will be no construction freeze and we will continue to build as we did this past year,” said Shaked.
To the question of whether Yair Lapid as Prime Minister will continue with the same line as Bennett, she replied, “The government is a government of equals and the status quo is being respected.”
Shaked also called on the Likud to remove its opposition to advancing laws that would allow a visa waiver for Israelis traveling to the US as early as next year.
“The Americans are doing everything they can to complete the process and it is the opposition that is holding it up. We are in talks with them and I hope they will get a hold of themselves.”
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