Israel's government evacuates its second illegal West Bank outpost

Israel's Border Police evacuated a new outpost called Gofna in the Binyamin region of the West Bank on Sunday afternoon. This is the second outpost to be evacuated under the new government.

The outpost was established on Saturday night after six families and dozens of youths set up structures at the site.

The Nahala movement claimed that settlers were being violently removed from the site in opposition to the law, which they say requires that an official evacuation order be issued before conducting an evacuation.

Are the settlers being removed illegally? 

"It is not too late to stop the evacuation. We call on the prime minister and the defense minister to stop [former defense minister Benny] Gantz's left-wing policy that allows the Arabs to continue to take control of Judea and Samaria and destroys the Jews against the law. Come to your senses and give an order to stop the shameful and violent evacuation," said the settlers who founded the outpost in a statement.

"Ten people were murdered in Jerusalem in the last few weeks leaving us no room for doubt that the site should be established as soon as possible in order to strengthen Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel," said a member of the secretariat of the outpost, Talia Farkash.

כוחות מג"ב והמנהל האזרחי החלו להרוס שלושה מבנים שהוקמו בנקודת התיישבות חדשה בבנימין: "גופנה". 6 משפחות ועשרות בני נוער עלו הלילה למקום. pic.twitter.com/cl3ILu66PX

— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) February 12, 2023

"We expect to receive full backing from the members of the right-wing government who need to understand that in the face of the murderous terrorism that is rampant, settlement points are the appropriate answer."

Daniela Weiss, the chairperson of the Nahala Movement, stressed that "the connection to the Land of Israel is the most effective thing to prevent further bloodshed."

Last month, Israeli forces evacuated the Or Haim outpost in Samaria, sparking outrage from members of the Religious Zionist Party, who boycotted a cabinet meeting shortly afterward.

Last week, Haaretz reported that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asked settlement leaders to prevent the establishment of new outposts.

After being asked about the report on Tuesday, Smotrich said that he would not speak about private meetings, but added that "our aim is that we won't need to act in illegal ways."

"We want the law and the official policy of the government of Israel, over the table, will be to regulate the settlements, to develop settlements and to launch new settlements," said Smotrich.

"When everything is forbidden, everything is permitted. But we want to change this. We want to normalize life in Judea and Samaria. None of us sanctifies breaking the law. None of us sanctifies sporadic, personal acts of people and movements. When we did this over the years, we did it in order to bring the state to us. Now we are the state. We are the government."