AG postpones tenders for E1 settlement project; Smotrich accuses her of election meddling

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday ordered a postponement of the tender process for the controversial E1 settlement project, citing concerns that advancing the project during the campaign could be used for electioneering. The move drew a furious reaction from far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who accused her of meddling in the vote.

Baharav-Miara ordered a monthlong postponement of the deadline for submitting bids to build 1,234 housing units in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, pushing the deadline beyond the October 27 national election.

Gali Baharav-Miara’s office announced the decision “to postpone the deadline for submitting bids by one month, so that this date will fall after election day” in order to “reduce concern over the tender being used for election propaganda.”

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Smotrich, a major proponent of the settlement, demanded that Baharav-Miara retract her instructions, accusing her of interfering in the election campaign.

Smotrich also called on Central Elections Committee chairman Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg to “ensure” that the attorney general does not become an “active player” in the election.

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“I call on Justice Sohlberg… [to] ensure that the attorney general and her people do not turn into active players in the election campaign in an attempt to back up the left, prevent the right from forming a government, and to enable the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel,” said Smotrich.

“Gali Baharav-Miara is trying to stop the construction in E1. She is interfering in the election campaign and working for [Yashar party leader] Gadi Eisenkot,” Smotrich claimed in a video posted on X. Eisenkot has criticized the timing of the E1 tenders but has not said he would cancel the project.

In a letter to Baharav-Miara, Smotrich insisted that the tender process had nothing to do with the election, describing it as “the direct and professional continuation of technical processes” that began long before the campaign period.

The E1 plan was given final approval in August 2025 after years of delays, largely caused by vehement objections from the international community, including the US.

The project is particularly controversial because it would connect Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim while disrupting territorial continuity between major Palestinian population centers, including Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The Palestinians and many Western governments say it would effectively torpedo the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank.

Smotrich and other far-right Israelis agree with that assessment. Smotrich hailed its approval last year as a “significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion.”

The Housing Ministry issued a tender in August for seven residential compounds comprising 1,234 housing units in E1, with bidding originally due to close on October 19, a week before the election.

Earlier this month, the Jerusalem District Court rejected a request by rights groups to freeze the tender process, allowing it to proceed while broader petitions against the project remain under review.

The mayor of Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement which is expected to expand into the E1 zone, petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court against the postponement, arguing that the decision itself was political.

“We have waited more than 30 years for E1,” Guy Yifrach said in a statement.

A second tender for another 2,167 units was added in September, bringing the total number of homes covered by the two tenders to 3,401, according to rights group Ir Amim. That tender is scheduled to open for bidding on October 25, two days before the election. Ir Amim said the timing showed the government was seeking to push ahead with the project and create an increasingly difficult-to-reverse reality on the ground before voters go to the polls.

Western governments have long opposed E1 construction on the grounds that it would make a contiguous Palestinian state far harder to establish.

The European Union’s diplomatic service condemned Israel’s move to issue tenders for the E1 settlement project in August, warning that the planned construction would “divide the West Bank in two, isolating East Jerusalem” and further undermine “the viability of a two-state solution.”

In announcing sanctions on West Bank settlements last month, the UK cited the E1 project, along with rampant settler violence for the decision.

Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, meanwhile, have promoted the project as a means of strengthening Israeli control in the area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.

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