Lapid: Israel doesn’t need permission from the US to build in settlements

Israel doesn’t need permission from the United States to build in West Bank settlements, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told reporters in the Knesset.

“Israel is a sovereign state and does not ask for permission to operate in its territory,” Lapid said.

He spoke amid the latest diplomatic row between Israel and the United States over the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria’s meeting on Thursday to advance and approve plans for 3,988 settler homes.

The Biden administration had asked Israel not to advance the plans, given its stiff opposition to any Israeli settlement construction.

“We always update the Americans” when it comes to settlement construction. He clarified that this was not the same thing needing their approval.

To offset US anger regarding the move, Israel cut back on the scope of the plans by some 1,800-2,000 units. But the move did not appease the Biden Administration, which like the former Obama administration does not want to see the approval of any settlement plans.

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as State Department spokesman Ned Price have stated many times that they believe such settlement activity harms the possibility of creating a two-state resolution to the conflict.

When asked about tension with the US on this matter, Lapid said, that if the advancement of plans for 3,988 settler homes had “international consequences – it is my job to deal with them and I will deal with them.”