Israel will soon celebrate annexation of West Bank, Smotrich tells PM at E1 signing ceremony

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a ceremony marking the advancement of the E1 settlement project in Ma'ale Adumim on September 11, 2025. (Courtesy)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a ceremony marking the advancement of the E1 settlement project in Ma'ale Adumim on September 11, 2025. (Courtesy)

Israel will soon celebrate the annexation of the West Bank, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony at which the premier signed an agreement authorizing a major construction project that would see some 3,400 housing units built in the contentious E1 area in the West Bank, between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

“The prime minister told me, ‘I’m staying here to hear what you have to say, and I know what you intend to say,'” says Smotrich.

“Mr. Prime Minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria,” he adds, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

During the signing event, Netanyahu declared that “there will be no Palestinian state.”

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