Muslim leaders to convene urgent meeting to discuss Netanyahu annexation pledge

The Organization for Islamic Cooperation is convening an emergency meeting next week to “take urgent political and legal measures” to address Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to annex large parts of the West Bank if he is reelected next week.

The OIC says the high-level meeting that will take place on Sunday was called by Saudi Arabia last night.

The 57-nation group says it considers Netanyahu’s announcement “a new aggression on the rights of the Palestinian people and a blatant violation of the UN charter, the principles of international law and the relevant UN resolutions.”

The Saudi Royal Court condemned the prime minister’s remarks as “very dangerous escalation” in a strongly worded statement.

The strongly worded statement from the Saudi royal court, which runs the affairs of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, marked a significant rebuke from a regional power that had grown closer to Israel in recent years over its shared concerns about Iran’s growing belligerency.