PM in Beitar llit to Inaugurate New Neighborhood

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the first time visited Beitar Ilit on Thursday. The purpose of his visit: to inaugurate a new neighborhood, which will expand the population of the town by thousands of new residents. Participating in the event were community leaders and Rabbanim, as well as Interior Minister Rabbi Aryeh Deri, Chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee Rabbi Moshe Gafni, Deputy Education Minister Rabbi Meir Porush and other members of the chareidi community.

Currently the third-largest city in Yehudah and Shomron, with about 40,000 residents, Beitar Ilit will be getting 1,100 new housing units, in the Hill C area. The existing neighborhoods in the city, Hill A and B, have a total of about 8,000 units. Speaking at the ceremony, Netanyahu promised to expand Beitar Ilit, and other communities in Yehudah and Shomron, even further. “We are doing everything possible to develop more homes in all of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

“Just this morning, the head of my office, Yoav Horowitz, visited Netiv HaAvot in Gush Etzion to examine what we could do to help the community within the strictures of the law,” Netanyahu said. The High Court has ordered the demolition of 17 homes in the outpost in Gush Etzion, and Netanyahu and Horowitz have been examining alternative locations for the residents of the Netiv HaAvot neighborhood.

“Yesterday we gathered heads of the Housing, Finance and Defense Ministries to discuss the advancement of the rebuilding of a community for residents of Amona. They deserve a home, and without delay. There is no government that has done more for settlement than this one,” he added.

Netanyahu also discussed his relationship with the chareidi community. “It is important to me that the chareidi public know that we are all brothers, and that we are all equal,” he said. “The chareidi community is part of the Israeli nation, and it deserves its fair share of resources. Every Sunday we sit in the Cabinet and discuss with the heads of all the parties what their concerns are, together with the heads of the chareidi parties. We do this in a positive spirit, and without fighting or backbiting.”