TEL AVIV, July 24, 2025 (WAFA) – The Israeli government has approved a $274.6 million budget to support colonial infrastructure projects in the occupied West Bank, just hours after the Knesset voted to officially back the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli daily Israel Hayom, Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich presented a large-scale funding plan to the Knesset Finance Committee, securing additional funds to upgrade roads and infrastructure that link colonial settlements to each other and to Israel proper.
A total of 918 million Israeli shekels—equivalent to $274.6 million—was allocated specifically to enhance colonial infrastructure. The announcement was made Thursday morning, following the approval of these projects late Wednesday night.
Regev was quoted as saying that the budget decisions reflect practical steps toward sovereignty through settlement expansion, adding that even though the Knesset passed a symbolic law in support of sovereignty only yesterday, her ministry has been pushing settlement-related infrastructure since she returned to office.
Finance Minister Smotrich echoed her sentiments, saying: "This is how true sovereignty is established—through facts on the ground, through settlement investment, and through bringing one million new settlers... This is how the fantasy of a terrorist Palestinian state is dismantled."
The latest colonial funding decision follows a controversial vote in the Knesset on Wednesday, where lawmakers passed a statement of support for extending Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, a move long viewed as a step toward formal annexation of the Israeli settlements.
The measure passed with 71 votes in favor and only 13 against, supported by all coalition parties, including members of the Shas party which recently withdrew from the government.
The United Nations and the vast majority of the international community consider Israel's colonial settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal under international law.
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