Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) visited Rachel's Tomb Tuesday, and called for the government to build freely for Jews in the Land of Israel.
“It is time that there will be full construction, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the Negev and Galilee,” he said, “without any limitations from any gentile or anyone else, like we learned from previous generations.”
Ariel used the Hebrew word “goy,” which means “gentile” but also “nation,” and he could well have been using it in the second sense, or purposely employing a double entendre.
Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard, who arrived on a visit to Israel on Monday, condemned Israel’s announcement of new construction in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem.
According to a report, Lidegaard's condemnation came ahead of a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.
Later, in a joint conference with Liberman, Lidegaard said that he condemns the construction of the housing units because it "hinder(s) negotiations and the two-state solution."
The Committee for Planning and Building in Jerusalem officially approved the construction of 400 housing units in Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem Monday, just one week after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu officially approved over 1,000 housing units in that neighborhood and in Har Homa that have been slated for construction since as far back as 2010.
