Israeli finance minister dismisses UK’s condemnation of settlement expansion

“The British Mandate in the land of Israel is over.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has dismissed UK criticism regarding Israel’s decision to issue a tender for more than 1,200 new housing units in the occupied West Bank under Israel’s E1 settlement project.

Addressing the British Foreign Secretary directly in a video he shared on X, Smotrich said that "the British Mandate in the land of Israel is over” and that he will not be intimidated or deterred by “threats or sanctions”.