Senior lawmakers and ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party launched a push on Wednesday urging the premier to annex the West Bank before the end of the Knesset’s summer session on July 27, claiming that he must ride the “historic achievements” of the war against Iran.
In a letter signed by 15 Likud ministers currently in government as well as Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the lawmakers wrote that “after the State of Israel’s historic achievements in the face of Iran’s axis of evil and its sympathizers, the task must be completed and the existential threat from within must be eliminated, to prevent another massacre in the heart of the country.”
The politicians added that “the strategic partnership, backing and support of the US and President Donald Trump have made it a propitious time to move forward with it now, and ensure Israel’s security for generations.”
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in 1967 during the Six Day War, but has never formally annexed it. Israel began moving toward annexation in 2020 as part of a wider so-called peace plan released by Trump during his previous term, but ultimately dropped the idea in exchange for normalization with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Wednesday’s letter was met with praise from the far-right Religious Zionism party chair, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry for matters related to the West Bank. He said that as soon as the prime minister “gives the order,” he will be ready to implement Israeli sovereignty over the territory “immediately.”
Hellbound and Down 