Religious Zionism Party chairman and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich petitioned the High Court of Justice on Tuesday against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s directive to delay the opening of bids and announcement of the winners in the construction tender for the E1 area.

In the urgent petition, Smotrich is asking the court to overturn the directive and allow the tender process to proceed. The tender is intended to market land for the construction of 1,234 housing units in seven complexes in Mevaseret Adumim, in Ma’ale Adumim.

According to the petition, political approval to advance the tender was granted as early as October 2025, before the election period. Smotrich argues that since the approval was granted, the various stages of the tender have been advanced by professional officials according to a predetermined timetable, without political intervention by elected officials.

The Finance Minister sharply criticized Baharav-Miara’s decision.

“The Attorney General has officially, improperly and illegally decided to join Gadi Eisenkot’s campaign, after he announced that he would cancel construction in the E1 area."

Smotrich described the area as being of strategic importance and argued that construction there would connect Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim.

“This is an area of paramount strategic importance that, after decades, will for the first time connect Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim and determine whether there will be Israeli-Jewish territorial continuity or an opening for a Palestinian state."

He added: “With this move, Gali Baharav-Miara is turning herself into a tool of the Israeli left, which will establish a Palestinian state that will endanger the lives of Israeli citizens. There is no other explanation for this."

The minister further claimed that he was forced to write the petition himself and pay the filing fee out of his own pocket in order for his position to be heard by the court.

“She is abusing the power of her office and even forced me, as the responsible minister, to write the petition myself and pay the fee out of my own pocket so that my position can be heard in court."

Smotrich also linked the dispute to changes his party seeks to advance in the judicial system. He referred to the initiative to split the position of Attorney General and regulate the office’s powers, declaring that his party intends to continue pursuing the plan in the next Knesset term.

“When an elected minister cannot present his position through the state, and the Attorney General is both the one blocking the move and the one deciding who will represent him, something in the system has to change."