The chairman of the Yesha umbrella council of settlement mayors says he will no longer vote for Netanyahu due to the premier’s pledge to suspend annexation of parts of the West Bank.
Netanyahu made the vow as part of a deal to normalize ties with the United Arab Emirates, which was announced on Thursday, but also said he would proceed with annexation in the future.
David Elhayani tells Channel 12, “Netanyahu deceived us over the past year, the residents of the Jordan Valley, who he promised annexation to.”
“If he wanted to do something good for the State of Israel, he would apply sovereignty,” Elhayani says. “He lost it. He is not the same person he once was. I don’t know what happened to him but this is not the man I know.”
David Elhayani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council and the Yesha Council of West Bank mayors, at a Yesha protest tent near the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, February 4, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Elhayani and MK Bezalel Smotrich of the national religious Yamina party said Friday that Netanyahu should be replaced over the move, and some Likud lawmakers said that annexation would go forward in a bid to appease supporters angered by the announcement.
After the Israel-UAE accord was revealed, US President Donald Trump and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said annexation was suspended, but not canceled permanently.
Netanyahu had expressed interest in starting the process on July 1, but the date came and went without action being taken.
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