Yisrael Katz
Yisrael KatzMiriam Alster/Flash 90

In the wake of last week's terror attacks, including the horrific murders of Hallel-Yaffa Ariel and Rabbi Michael Mark, many ministers and MKs have called on the government to extend Israeli sovereignty to Ma'ale Adumim.

But a senior Likud minister has gone even further. In an interview with Reshet Bet Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that he supports the annexation not only of Ma'ale Adumim, but also of Gush Etzion and Beitar Illit. 

Even though all of these large Jewish settlement blocks are over the so-called 'Green Line' Katz claims that nobody disputes the fact that these areas will remain part of Israel in any final peace agreement.

In an interview with Shalom Keitel and Benny Teitelbaum, on the program "All Talk," Katz stated very clearly that Israel will defeat terror. He said, "We won in previous rounds and we will win this time too."

He also added that he will be advancing a law which will allow the expulsion of families of terrorists to Gaza or Syria which he considers to be both the correct security response and also the moral thing to do.

Katz's call to annex these areas follows in the wake of yesterday's announcement by the Land of Israel lobby group, endorsed by a number of MKs, that they will be pushing for Israel to extend full sovereignty over Ma'ale Adumim. In an interview this morning Minister Ze'ev Elkin claimed that even if annexation of Ma'ale Adumim and other areas is unlikely to happen at the present, simply having the discussion on this topic raises public awareness and can eventually lead to policy change.