Battle for sovereignty: Likud candidate in a struggle against the Turkish consulate

Advocate Yair Gabay, an expert in planning and construction law running in the Likud primaries for the Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Shephelah district, has recently been leading a personal and persistent struggle against illegal construction taking place at the Turkish consulate compound in Jerusalem.

His struggle began after, according to him, information accumulated regarding construction work carried out without the legally required permits at the consulate compound, and Gabay is now working with oversight and enforcement authorities, demanding that the necessary legal steps be taken at the site. According to him, attempts at enforcement were met with a sweeping refusal by the Turkish consulate to cooperate with professional authorities, which raised a fundamental issue of sovereignty and equality before the law in the heart of the capital.

Gabay explained that beyond the legal aspect of planning and construction offenses, this is a significant test of the State of Israel's enforcement capability within Jerusalem regarding foreign missions. In his view, there cannot be a situation where an Israeli citizen in Jerusalem is required to obey every letter of the planning laws, while a foreign state allows itself to carry out illegal construction and use its consular status as a cover to prevent enforcement.

"Jerusalem is not no-man's-land, and consular status does not grant permission to ignore the laws of the state," he stated.

As part of his struggle, he demands that the Jerusalem Municipality and the relevant state authorities not retreat from the planned enforcement procedures and exhaust all legal tools to ensure that the Turkish government is also subject to Israeli law within the city's territory. His struggle gains added weight in light of the political tension and public criticism regarding Turkey's expanding activity in Jerusalem, as he clarifies that he intends to continue his activity until full enforcement sovereignty is applied even within the consulate compound.