for the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_L0fdFwV4I
Advocates for the Land of Israel are lobbying the Likud party ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's February trip to Washington DC to meet with newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump.
Activists from the Women In Green, a pro-Israel organization which supports the application of Israeli law over Judea and Samaria, canvassed among lawmakers and party leaders at this week's conference of Likud members in Eilat, dubbed the "Likudiada".
Women in Green co-chair Nadia Matar spoke with Arutz Sheva at the Likudiada regarding the Prime Minister's upcoming trip to Washington, and the growing movement to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
"These are very crucial days," said Matar. "We have the new Trump administration; we have, unfortunately, Amona and Ofra, which are God forbid, [slated to be] destroyed... [and] we must have the Prime Minister get his strength before his [planned February] trip that the people of Israel want sovereignty. The people of Israel expect our Prime Minister not to ask for a little bit, for a few crumbs, but to ask and say what Israel wants. Israel wants to dream big. Israel wants Eretz Yisrael."
Earlier this month, Land of Israel Lobby Chairman Yoav Kish (Likud) proposed a bill to annex Maaleh Adumim, the third largest Israeli community in Judea and Samaria.
While the Women In Green endorsed the application of Israeli law to the city, they warned against partial annexation.
"Let us not be satisfied with partial… sovereignty," wrote Women in Green leaders Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar. Narrow applications of Israeli sovereignty would, they warn, "make us lose sight of the living and breathing connection between the people of Israel and all of the areas of its land, a connection of which sovereignty is an essential and required part."
During the Likudiada, Matar highlighted a recent poll commissioned by the Women in Green, suggesting strong support for annexation – and shrinking support among Israelis for Palestinian statehood.
"Seventy-five percent of the people of Israel voted in favor of sovereignty," said Matar. "Only 7% voted for a Palestinian state. So only 7% of the Israeli public still favor a Palestinian state. All the rest, 75% - and probably also those who said they don't know yet, 18% - know that the one and only Zionist plan that can be implemented here is the application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea
