From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 11, 2024
Smotrich: Trump’s victory gives Israel ‘opportunity’ to apply sovereignty to West Bank settlements
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Donald Trump’s election as the 47th president of the United States provides Israel with an “important opportunity” to “apply Israeli sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declares.
Addressing the press ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich welcomes Trump’s victory over incumbent Joe Biden, whose administration he complains “unfortunately chose to intervene in Israeli democracy and personally not to cooperate with me.”
The Republican politician’s first term in 2017-2021 was positive for Israel, Smotrich states, citing the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and the Trump White House’s decision to declare that Israel’s West Bank settlements were consistent with international law.
“We were a step away from applying sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and now is the time to do it,” Smotrich declares, adding: “The year 2025 will, with God’s help, be the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”
“The only way to remove the danger of a Palestinian terror state from the agenda is to apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlement in the entire Judea and Samaria,” the far-right minister continues, calling such a course of action the proper response to Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest of the Iranian-backed terrorist axis.
Revealing that he had instructed the Settlement Directorate of the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to begin preparing the groundwork for applying sovereignty, Smotrich insists that while Israel’s enemies saw October 7 as “the first step in [its] destruction…the new Nazis have to pay a price in the territory that will be taken from them forever both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.”
While there will be criticism, the Abraham Accords prove that when Israel stands up for what is right “in the end it receives support and appreciation from the US and the neighboring Arab countries.”
“I have no doubt that President Trump, who showed courage and determination in his decisions in the first term, will support the State of Israel in this move,” he adds.
Addressing a gathering in Jerusalem late last month, shortly before the US elections, Smotrich made similar comments, calling for Israel to effectively annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip, calling for the establishment of new settlements deep inside Palestinian areas and the departure of Arabs harboring nationalist aspirations.
During a speech at the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, he also called for Israeli sovereignty to be extended to the Gaza Strip because otherwise Israel’s war gains would dissipate without troops, and civilians, being posted there on a more permanent basis.
In his remarks, Smotrich envisioned Palestinians being given limited local self-rule “devoid of national characteristics,” saying those who continued to support Palestinian statehood would be unwelcome.
“Those who do not want or are unable to put aside their national ambitions will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the many Arab countries where the Arabs can realize their national ambitions, or to any other destination in the world,” he said.
