Forty days after Finance Minister and Defense Ministry Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he had signed an order to demolish the illegal Bedouin outpost of Khan al-Ahmar, the Palestinian site has still not been evacuated. Smotrich made the announcement at a dramatic press conference, saying the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him was a “declaration of war” and that he was responding to what he described as an attack by the Palestinian Authority.
At that event, Smotrich said, “The hands are the hands of The Hague, but the voice is the voice of the PA.” He called the Palestinian Authority a terror organization and said it was behind the harm to the Israeli prime minister and ministers. He added that from that day, “any economic or other target that I can harm within my authority will be attacked,” and promised, “I will sign a demolition order for Khan al-Ahmar. I promise all our enemies, this is only the beginning.”
Nothing has happened since then regarding Khan al-Ahmar, but another operation did take place overnight. At 2:30 a.m., hundreds of Border Police and Yasam officers, accompanied by Civil Administration inspectors, demolished Givat Beit Anot in the Hebron Hills near Kiryat Arba, destroying the homes of three families and the local synagogue.
The article places the episode in a wider record of repeated promises by the Israeli right to clear Khan al-Ahmar. Benjamin Netanyahu once said it would be removed “within a few weeks,” but eight years have passed and the site has only expanded. Smotrich himself had previously petitioned to demolish it as head of Regavim, while the Netanyahu governments repeatedly delayed or shelved the issue. After the 2022 coalition was formed, the state told the High Court it would not evacuate the outpost. Smotrich’s office says the matter is being handled and should be done quietly so as not to undermine efforts.
