Religious Zionism Party Chairman Bezalel Smotrich responded to the decision by KKL-JNF to evacuate the settler tents erected near Majd al-Krum, saying that 'the surrender to violence and Arab occupation could blow up in our faces.' The decision was made following intelligence warnings from the police and Shin Bet about intentions for violent escalation and large-scale nationalist riots in the area ahead of Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

