Bezalel Smotrich wants to create 40 new Jewish settlements in the Negev and Galilee

Two months before the legislative elections in Israel, Finance Minister and president of the Religious Zionism party, Bezalel Smotrich, presented on Thursday a new plan aimed at strengthening the Jewish presence in the Negev and Galilee, while combating what he describes as crime and illegal weapons within Arab society. The program is based on three pillars: "land, population, and security."

On the territorial front, Bezalel Smotrich wants to significantly accelerate the creation of new communities. Smotrich's plan provides for legislation that, according to him, would allow residents to be settled on certain sites within six months to a year, compared to procedures that can currently take up to twenty years.

The stated aim is to create 40 new communities, including 20 in the Negev and 20 in the Galilee. The minister also intends to cancel projects that, in his view, would create territorial continuity between Arab localities in Galilee.

The second axis provides for incentive measures aimed in particular at new immigrants, especially those coming from North America, as well as reservists, in order to encourage them to settle in these new localities. Comprehensive development agreements are also planned to promote housing construction and job creation.

On the security front, Bezalel Smotrich wants to intensify the fight against illegal weapons and crime in the Arab society of the Negev. Questioned by i24NEWS, he stated that the Shin Bet would participate in the fight against illegal weapons. "This week, I attended a meeting; there was a budget issue. It will be done. They are already starting to intervene and have received a budget in recent weeks," he said.

The plan also proposes to equate the possession of illegal weapons with a terrorist offense, with sentences of up to ten years in prison for possession and twenty years for trafficking. Another measure would aim to exclude individuals involved in extortion activities from public tenders, in order to target criminal organizations economically.