‘It’s time for the court system to change’

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin talks to Arutz Sheva about Amona, the Regulation Law, and the court system as a whole.

By Hezki Baruch, INN

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said Monday morning in an interview with Arutz Sheva that despite the government’s efforts to find alternative solutions for Amona, the coalition still needs to pass the Regulation Law.

“The Regulation Law is a means, not an end,” Levin said. “Our purpose isn’t to prevent the unjust expulsion of all Amona’s residents. I think we need to advance the Regulation Law, so we won’t end up in a situation in which we failed to find a solution and also haven’t managed to pass the law. If, by the time the Regulation Law is passed, we don’t find a better solution for Amona, we’ll have to use the Regulation Law.”

Levin also said he “supports any efforts to provide a solution for Amona” and that will as a result “solve the problems all the settlements suffer from.”

“I also think it’s come time to put an end to the legal battle that’s been fought against the settlements in Judea and Samaria, in an attempt to force the country [to do what the left wants] by filing petitions and turning to the courts in an attempt to harm this wonderful enterprise,” Levin added.

He also said it’s not too late to save Amona.

“In my eyes, it’s not too late to find a solution from Amona, since the legal issues created are synthetic, and the legal advisers who created the problem can definitely solve it. It’s more an issue of whether the court system wants to solve the problem than it is of actual ability to solve it,” explained Levin.

Levin, whose opinions regarding the Israeli Supreme Court are well-known, continued his explanation saying, “I think we need to change the court system, starting from its very foundations. I think this is the most important thing we have to fight for. It’s time to stop running after various court decisions or a singe ruling. Protecting the basics has begun taking up all our time, we’re not managing to get to a place from which we can work productively and develop a just court system.”

Pointing out the inconsistency of the court’s rulings, Levin said, “I think the reality we live in, in which we ignore illegal Arab buildings on an enormous scale, and in which we ignore the problems that Jewish communities are suffering from, is a reality that we cannot continue to deal with. We need to change it, and the way to do that is by making a fundamental change in the entire court system.”

The Regulation Law is intended to provide a general solution to the problem of leftist organizations claiming land on which Jewish communities were built with government aid actually is private land. In most cases, the land belongs to an anonymous Arab who neither knows nor cares about “his” plot, so that solutions such as compensation could be found. The law is widely accepted as both preventing future issues and able to cancel the expulsion of Amona. However, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has repeatedly insisted he does not and will not support the Regulation Law, irrespective of whether the Amona expulsion is carried out or not.