Finance Minister Smotrich Enters Controversial Galilee Area Amid Tensions

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich entered the Rus area near Majd al-Krum in the Galilee on Thursday morning under heavy security presence, including aerial surveillance. Israeli police cordoned off the area, preventing Arab citizens from passing a checkpoint, while helicopters and drones monitored the skies. Right-wing Israeli activists had previously erected Israeli flags near the area in a move seen as provocative.

Smotrich's party, Religious Zionism, had announced plans to hold a faction meeting in the Rus area, specifically at the site of a former outpost that was dismantled following public and legal opposition. Local committees and the council rejected the meeting, viewing it as an attempt to establish a settlement reality.

The outpost was removed after over a week of local activism, with it being revealed that nearly half the land belonged to a local resident and the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) controlled the remainder. The new plan involves re-establishing the outpost hundreds of meters away, on land the JNF claims full control over, though it was previously owned by Palestinians before 1948. The plan also includes replacing settlers from the occupied West Bank with local guards from the Hashomer Hachadash organization in the Galilee.