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Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Shas says it will vote for symbolic Knesset motion calling for annexation of West Bank
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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"
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party announces that it will vote in favor of a motion for the agenda in favor of annexing the West Bank in the Knesset today.
The motion, advanced by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, Likud MK Dan Illouz and Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, calls Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley “an inseparable part of the historical homeland of the Jewish people” and calls to apply Israeli sovereignty to these areas.
“This move would make it clear to the world that Israel will not accept solutions that involve dangerous territorial concessions, and that it is committed to its future as a secure Jewish state,” the proposal states.
Motions for the agenda have no practical implications and will not impact the legal status of the West Bank.
Last year, the Knesset plenum approved a similar motion for the agenda opposing a Palestinian state that passed 68-9. Some opposition members, including MKs from Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, voted in favor of the motion, while MKs from the opposition’s centrist and left-wing parties Yesh Atid and Labor absented themselves from the vote.
Lawmakers are also slated to vote on a bill sponsored by Rothman that would require the use of the term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the West Bank in Knesset legislation.
The Times of Israel Community.