© Ammar Awad / Reuters
According to Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, 3,651 settlements were approved last week, Haaretz reports. The minister noted that "What we've approved on June 6 and 7 is the maximum that can be approved."
Plans for 8,345 new housing units have been approved by the Israeli authorities so far this year, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency writes, citing Liebermann. Out of these, 3,066 have been given final approval and will soon be built.
"The numbers for the first half of 2017 are the highest since 1992," Lieberman said, as cited by local media and news agencies.
The defense minister also praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for its aggressive stance on expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
"There was no better government in terms of settlement construction," he said, according to Haaretz.
For some, however, the plans appear to fall short of expectations.
"I respect the defense minister very much but unfortunately the numbers he mentioned aren't correct," Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, said, according to the newspaper. According to Dagan, most of the approved units "are counted five or six times," essentially putting the "real number" under 2,000 housing units.
However, according to Lieberman, pushing for more would "stretch the rope beyond its limit, and thus put the entire settlement enterprise at risk."
Nearly 400,000 Jewish settlers are estimated to be living in the West Bank along with 2.8 million Palestinians. Another 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, an area claimed by Palestinians.
The construction of settlements in the region is considered illegal under international law. The international community has long voiced concerns over the controversial constructions while condemning the deteriorating security situation between Israelis and Palestinians.
The government of Israel stopped building official settlements in 1992, according to Israeli monitoring group Peace Now. That, however, did not stop the construction of unauthorized settlements in the West Bank.
Before, during, or after the event, the entire Middle East will be destroyed. My guess is during. If you look at a cross section of the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, what you will notice is that it plunges down very, very deep. During an axial tilt, this is like a huge ladle of water waiting be poured over Israel. Then look at a cross section of the land of Israel because it looks like this has happened before. That is a huge drainage ditch behond those mountains.
Alternatively, the country will be nuked into oblivion in the waning moments of this age or it will be covered with sarin gas immediately afterwards, if not both. No matter what or how, the Beast does not intend for their to be either people of color or Jews in the new world.
And before you accuse me of being insensitive or prejudice, know that I live with a person of Russian-Jewish descent and I have fought prejudice in the United States of America all my life. I am simply telling you what is about to happen.