Uri Ariel

Uri Yehuda Ariel was born on December 22, 1952, in Afula. His father, Yitzhak, was one of the founders of Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, and his mother, Naomi, was a Holocaust survivor who joined the kibbutz. Ariel attended the regional school of the kibbutzim at Sde Eliyahu.[1]

Ariel enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in 1971. Accounts describe Armored Corps and officers’ training as well as service in a reconnaissance unit.[1][9] He met Hagit, his future wife, during his military service and was discharged in 1975 with the rank of major.[1]

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ariel served on the Egyptian front in northern Sinai. In a later account of his experience, he recalled being a 21-year-old officer at a Rafah training camp when his unit was told to remain on call. He said he helped prepare tanks on Yom Kippur and then moved toward northern Sinai with a hastily assembled company of commanders, sergeants, and officers.[10]

Ariel recalled that two MiG aircraft attacked his group and that Egyptian forces later fired on its position. He said his unit conducted ambushes and subsequently repelled a combined Egyptian infantry and armor attack. He also recalled learning that two classmates had been killed; he and Hagit named their first two sons after them.[10]

After leaving the IDF, Ariel joined Garin Mishor Adumim in 1975. He married Hagit in 1977, and they founded Kfar Adumim, a community described as including both religious and secular Jews.[1] From 1989 to 1999, he held several roles connected to the settlement movement: secretary-general of Amana and the Yesha Council, head of the Settlement Department in the Ministry of Defense, and head of the Beit El Council.[1]

Ariel’s involvement in settlement communities was not limited to organizational work. During the disengagement from Gush Katif, he relocated to Kfar Darom to identify with residents. He also temporarily moved to the Amona outpost after the Supreme Court ordered the demolition of homes there; the biographical account characterizes Amona as an illegal settlement.[1]

Ariel was seventh on the National Union list for the 1999 election, when the party won four seats. He entered the Knesset in October 2001 as a replacement for Rehavam Ze’evi, who had been assassinated, and then won a seat in 2003 and was reelected in 2006, 2009, and 2015.[1][7]

Ariel placed second on the joint National Union–Jewish Home list for the 2013 election.[1] He served continuously as an MK until the April 2019 election.[7] In the thirty-third government, sworn in on March 18, 2013, he served as Housing and Construction Minister for Habayit Hayehudi. The party held eleven Knesset seats, and the Netanyahu coalition comprised 67 of the Knesset’s 120 members.[11]

Ariel served on Knesset committees dealing with Foreign Affairs and Defense, Finance, Internal Affairs, State Control, and Education, Culture and Sports. He chaired the Defense Budget Committee and the Subcommittee for Gush Katif and Northern Samaria Evacuees, and served on the Committee for the Appointment of Judges.[1] He also chaired parliamentary lobbies for Gush Katif evacuees, Jerusalem, and the release of Jonathan Pollard, and belonged to the Lobby for Eretz Israel.[1]

His legislative and parliamentary advocacy included Israeli agriculture, Yesha towns, religious education, and the monthly Sivuv Shearim event on the Temple Mount. The biographical account credits him with initiating the Jewish National Fund Law and recruiting support from a majority of Knesset parties for the measure, which it describes as intended to keep national lands in Jewish hands.[1]

Ariel became Minister of Housing and Construction in the government sworn in on March 18, 2013.[11] A coalition report published shortly before the government was formed had listed the portfolio, including the Israel Lands Authority, as part of the proposed allocation to Jewish Home and said an agreement was reportedly close to signing.[12] The Washington Institute for Near East Policy described Ariel as a member of Naftali Bennett’s party and a leader of the settlement movement. It anticipated that he would use the Housing Ministry to provide financial resources to settlements; this was a forecast of policy direction, not a record of a particular funding decision.[3]

Ariel publicly supported continued construction beyond the Green Line in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria. In 2013 he said he had no intention of halting settlement construction and that building would continue “at the same scale as before.” The remarks drew indirect criticism from the White House shortly before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel; spokesman Jay Carney said unilateral actions that made direct negotiations harder were not viewed favorably.[13] A separate report said Ariel argued that negotiations with the Palestinians would not produce a two-state solution.[14]

In November 2013, the Housing Ministry published tenders for planning approximately 20,000 settlement units beyond the Green Line, including 1,200 in the E1 corridor between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the plans withdrawn, saying they had been advanced without prior government coordination and would create an unnecessary confrontation with the international community. Ariel accepted the request to cancel them.[15]

Ariel defended publication of the tenders as a procedural planning step rather than a decision to begin construction, saying a first apartment might not emerge for five or six years. The announcement drew objections from the United States and the Palestinian Authority.[15] Netanyahu also criticized the plan, saying there was little point in taking impractical steps that demonstrated only theoretical construction potential or wasted political capital.[16]

In June 2014, after the ministry issued tenders for 1,500 homes in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem following months of a construction freeze, Ariel called the move “the appropriate Zionist response to the Palestinian terror government” and said he believed it was only the beginning. The tenders included homes in Efrat, Beitar Illit, Adam, Ariel, and Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem.[17]

The government approved Ariel’s “target price” housing plan in December 2014. It offered developers discounted land in return for a commitment that 80 percent of apartments be sold at least 20 percent below the average local price. The government set a target of issuing tenders for 20,500 units by the end of 2015.[18] The plan’s success was presented as a test for Ariel and the government; their earlier prediction that housing prices would fall had not been borne out in the preceding two years.[18]

After the 2015 election, Ariel became Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the thirty-fourth government.[1] The Washington Institute described the change as a move from housing to the settlement portfolio within the Agriculture Ministry, calling it a step down and noting uncertainty about the resources available to him in the new role.[19]

In June 2015, Ariel briefly reintroduced the Prawer Plan in the Knesset before withdrawing it. The plan concerned redistricting areas containing Bedouin villages. The U.S. State Department’s human-rights report describes broader disputes over the government’s Negev development program, including demolitions and planned relocations, and notes concerns raised by nongovernmental organizations and Bedouin leaders about land claims.[20]

The report attributes to the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality the view that Ariel’s policies had exacerbated gaps between recognized and unrecognized Bedouin villages.[20] These concerns appeared within a wider debate over development, village recognition, land claims, and relocation; the report presents the forum’s assessment as an attributed criticism rather than as a finding about Ariel’s intent.[20]

In January 2019, cabinet ministers approved exports of medical cannabis, paving the way for Israeli growers to begin international sales once export procedures were established. Ariel described the decision as opening a new field for Israeli farmers and as combining agriculture, medicine, and high technology.[21] His ministry had recognized medical cannabis as a legitimate crop; 780 farmers had preliminary approval to advance in planning, while five growers had final approval to cultivate 90 dunams.[21]

Ariel also proposed a policy for stray animals that prompted criticism. He suggested using an annual budget of NIS 4.5 million to transfer male or female dogs and cats to a willing foreign country rather than sterilizing them, and the report attributed his opposition to sterilization to Jewish-law grounds.[22] Animal-welfare activists criticized the proposal, arguing sterilization was the best way to control uncontrolled population growth. The same report said local councils had sterilized or neutered more than 100,000 cats, while animal-rights groups had praised Ariel for other projects, including work against reported cruelty during slaughtering.[22]

While serving as agriculture minister, Ariel continued to visit the Temple Mount. A 2015 Washington Institute analysis noted such visits amid a politically sensitive discussion of Jewish access and prayer, but did not report a direct statement from Ariel about his personal position in that particular account.[23] Ariel visited on July 26, 2015, Tisha B’Av, and September 17, the Jewish New Year; both visits drew criticism from other members of his coalition.[24]

Ariel’s visits to the Temple Mount, also referred to in official reports as Haram al-Sharif, became a recurring feature of his public activity. On September 4, 2013, while Housing and Construction Minister, he visited the site and said he intended to continue going there to strengthen Israeli sovereignty. He added that it was “ours” and not subject to argument or negotiations.[4] Palestinian officials objected to changes at the site and condemned his statements.[4]

The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research records another visit on May 8, 2013, and a further visit on September 11. The May visit coincided with a Jerusalem Day gathering by MK Miri Regev, who presented recommendations for increasing Jewish access and permitting Jewish prayer there.[25] The institute reports that a senior police official believed the events led Muslims to fear that Israel intended to take over Al-Aqsa Mosque, and characterizes a minister’s entry with a security escort as a breach of the status quo.[25]

A caption in the same report says Ariel blessed Rabbi Zalman Kalmanovitz at the Temple Mount on September 22, 2013; the caption credits the photograph to the Temple Mount News website.[25] In September 2015, Ariel entered the compound, stood at steps below the Dome of the Rock, and was documented reciting Birkat HaKohanim, the Priestly Blessing. The institute reports that the video was distributed publicly, was perceived by Muslims as a provocation and breach of the status quo, and was contrary to understandings with Jordan.[25]

In 2014, Ariel and other Knesset members publicly supported changing the Temple Mount status quo to permit Jewish prayer, according to commentary by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. That account contrasts their position with statements by Netanyahu and other senior officials that the status quo would not change.[26] The Temple Mount’s access and worship arrangements also involved differing Jewish religious views: some Jewish leaders, including the Western Wall rabbi, said Jewish law prohibited entry, while growing numbers in the national-religious community took the opposing view.[27]

In 2015, some coalition members advocated reversing the ban on non-Muslim prayer at the site. Netanyahu reiterated the policy that Muslims worship there and non-Muslims visit, while Ariel’s visits drew criticism within his coalition.[24] In October, Netanyahu announced a ban on visits by all Knesset members, including Muslim members. Ariel called the ban “unnatural” and “unfair”; members of the Joint List also condemned their inclusion in it.[24]

The Jerusalem Institute places the 2015 visits amid a wider crisis involving Jewish holiday visits, Muslim youths barricaded inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Israeli police actions at the compound. It says images and video from the site prompted strong reactions in the Muslim world and reports that violence later broke out in East Jerusalem and the West Bank during Sukkot. The institute says many Palestinians described that violence as primarily a response to events at Al-Aqsa; this is its account of the episode and does not by itself establish a single cause for the later violence.[25]

Ariel also called for rebuilding a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount, saying that Israel had built “many little, little temples” but needed to build “a real Temple” there. The site contains the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque and is sacred to both Judaism and Islam; the report described Ariel’s statement as challenging the long-standing status quo and noted the restrictions on Jewish prayer under the arrangements it described.[28]

In January 2019, Ariel lost the National Union leadership election to Bezalel Smotrich, receiving 40 votes to Smotrich’s 83. Ynet reported that Ariel would leave the Knesset after 23 years in politics.[8] He was not placed among the top seven candidates on the Union of Right-Wing Parties list for the 2019 election.[1]

Although he had announced his retirement from national politics after losing the leadership contest, Ariel remained agriculture minister during the political deadlock and the extension of the temporary government’s term. He resigned in November 2019 after Netanyahu apparently asked him to step down.[7] Globes described the resignation as ending a 30-year public-service career that included settlement-movement leadership, continuous Knesset service from October 2001 until April 2019, and cabinet service as housing minister after the 2013 election and agriculture minister after the 2015 election.[7]

Ariel’s involvement in settlement organizations, his support for construction beyond the Green Line, and his statements on the Temple Mount were politically contested aspects of his public career. In 2013, the Washington Institute anticipated that he would direct Housing Ministry resources toward settlements, while later reporting documented specific ministry planning announcements and Netanyahu’s intervention.[3][15] These accounts distinguish the early forecast from the subsequent events and do not establish that the forecast itself amounted to a particular allocation decision.

A 2017 State Comptroller report criticized the formulation and implementation of a government program that allocated NIS 110 million during 2013–2015 to support settlement groups. Globes reported that professional officials were excluded from parts of the process, political associates and activists connected to Ariel and his party were involved, and criteria were changed to allow funding for groups in central Israel. The report said at least 56 percent of assisted groups had a religious-ideological affiliation with Ariel’s party, held Ariel responsible because of his personal ties to associates and an adviser, and recommended that the Attorney General examine the ministry’s actions.[5]

In a separate account of the comptroller’s findings, Ariel said the comptroller had not recommended a probe into his own actions, that he respected the findings, and that he had instructed the relevant authorities to follow the recommendations. The article said he did not deny the allegations.[29]

In 2015, Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber concluded that Ariel had a conflict of interest concerning the Jewish National Fund’s possible separation from the state. The stated basis included financial support from the JNF to a nonprofit run by Ariel’s daughter and his rights in land on a kibbutz on JNF property. Zilber said another minister should handle the matter.[6] The Housing Ministry responded that it had already handled the issue in that way and that it did not impugn Ariel’s routine ministerial work or his role as chairman of the Israel Land Council.[6]

A separate controversy arose after Jewish settlers attacked an Israeli army base in 2011. Ariel objected to describing the attackers as terrorists and condemned calls to use lethal force against similar attacks in the future. In 2012, he admitted giving IDF troop-movement information to radical settlers to help them disrupt army operations.[1]

Official reports and other accounts also situated Ariel’s Temple Mount visits and sovereignty statements within disputes over access, prayer, and the site’s status quo. They describe objections by Palestinians, criticism from coalition colleagues, and differing positions among Israeli political and religious figures; the specific events and reactions should be understood within that documented dispute.[24][4]