Netanyahu vows to secure US recognition of sovereignty over settlements

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promising to secure American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over all West Bank settlements if he wins the March 2 elections for the Knesset.

In a campaign video, Netanyahu calls on his “brothers and sisters in Judea and Samaria” to back up in Thursday’s Likud leadership primaries, claiming no previous prime minister has “stood up to the pressures” he has for Israel to pull out of the West Bank.

“They want us to withdraw, that I uproot [settlements], and I said to them: ‘No.’ This is our land,” he says.

“Now we’re moving to a new stage,” Netanyahu continues. “Just as I brought the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the American recognition of our sovereignty in the Golan [Heights] and the American declaration that settlements don’t contravene international law… we’re going to something more. We’re going to bring American recognition of our sovereignty in Jordan Valley and, pay attention, in all settlements, those in the blocs and those beyond them.”

“Only I will bring this,” he concludes.

Netanyahu has repeatedly promised to extend Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements if he forms the next government, something he was unable to do after two inconclusive rounds of elections in April and September.

The vow to secure US backing for such moves comes days after the top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court announced there were grounds to move forward with an investigation of alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories and among other things noted Netanyahu’s stated plans to annex the Jordan Valley.