Israel will never agree to limit its construction activity in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Sunday.

“We won’t accept any limitation on building in Jewish areas of Jerusalem,” he said at a news conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, insisting that Israel would never accept construction in the city’s eastern sector as “settlement building.”

“It must be clear to everyone that Israel will never accept a definition of construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem as ‘settlement activity,’ because there is a broad consensus in Israel where Jews agree –  left, right and center – [on this], and it hopes that the European Union will take this into account,” Liberman added, saying the concept is a “distortion of reality.” 

“We do not accept any restrictions on construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and there will be no compromise about it,” he continued. “Anyone who thinks that the Israeli government is about to give in and limit construction in Jerusalem is wrong, we will defend our independence and sovereignty.”

Liberman’s comments surface after a hailstorm of criticism from UN, EU, and US officials over Jewish building in the capital.

Over the past several weeks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave instructions for the building of about 660 homes in Ramat Shlomo and about 400 more in Har Homa as well as approving 2,610 building tenders from 2012 to be approved for full construction. 

The EU has been particularly vehement in its criticism of the construction, saying that building Jewish homes would see ‘a return to violence’ and threatening Israel multiple times to further its agenda in the Middle East, dangling unprecedented aid packages to both Jerusalem and Ramallah if a two-state solution is implemented.

Despite this, it has denied threatening Israel – or promoting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement – on multiple occasions.