Bennett in Beit El
Bennett in Beit ElHillel Maeir

Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday evening participated in a celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the town of Beit El.

Turning to the 3,500 residents of Beit El who were in attendance, the Knesset Speaker said that he came to salute the thousands of residents and added, "I hope that the Jubilee of Beit El will be celebrated by tens of thousands of residents, not thousands."

Edelstein added that he will continue to accompany the Beit El Regional Council until the 300 housing units that were promised for the town turn into actual buildings.

Jewish Home chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett also mentioned during the festive event the Prime Minister's promise that 300 housing units will be approved for construction in the coming month.

"This is an old promise, and we in the government will keep it," said Bennett. "But that's not enough. In the late 1970s, even when the Labor party was in power, they established more and more new communities and in the 1990s they stopped. I understand that there were those who talked about the vision of a Palestinian state, but today it is clear to everyone that this will not happen, and since it’s not going to happen, it’s time to change reality.”

“The time has come to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. I am calling on you, Prime Minister: We are behind you in taking this Zionist step and applying sovereignty, and then it will be possible to return to a momentum of construction," continued the Education Minister.

"I know that some people will not like it in Europe. When they established Beit El, President Carter disapproved. He disapproved, and there are 6,500 people here. It doesn’t matter what they over say there, it matters what we do here. No one will stop us: Our vision is a million residents in Judea and Samaria,” he declared.