Smotrich says Trump’s victory an opportunity to ‘apply sovereignty’ in the West Bank

New administration could allow Israel to advance annexation of settlements, claims far-right finance minister, says the groundwork is already being put into place

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"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks during his Religious Zionism party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks during his Religious Zionism party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the United States provides Israel with the opportunity to advance the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on Monday.

Addressing the press ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich welcomed Trump’s victory over incumbent Joe Biden, whose administration he complained had “unfortunately chosen 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 stated, 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.

Trump’s new presidency presents an “important opportunity” to “apply Israeli sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” added Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry, referring to areas of the West Bank by their biblical names.

“We were a step away from applying sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and now is the time to do it,” he said, 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,” he said.

Applying sovereignty would likely entail annexing Israeli settlements in the territories and extending Israeli civil law to their residents. Since capturing the West Bank during the 1967 Six Day War, the entire territory has remained under military, rather than civil, rule.

A billboard that displays a photo of US President-elect Donald Trump and reads ‘Congratulations! Trump, make Israel great’ is projected a day after the US election, in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Revealing that he had instructed the Settlement Directorate in the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to begin preparing the groundwork for such an application of sovereignty, Smotrich insisted 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 proved 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,” Smotrich claimed.

“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 added.

Smotrich’s comments echoed those of settler leaders and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who last week told lawmakers that it is now “the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory, the time here in the State of Israel to legislate a law for the death penalty for terrorists” — and many other laws that he claimed Trump would not oppose.

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 — as well as establish new settlements deep inside Palestinian areas and encourage the emigration of Palestinians who harbor nationalist aspirations.

View of the West Bank settlement of Neve Daniel, in Gush Etzion, June 29, 2020. (Gershon Elinson/ Flash90/ File)

During a speech at the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, he also called for Israeli sovereignty to be extended to the Gaza Strip, claiming 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.

Last week, a former senior aide who reportedly has been tapped to help lead the Trump transition team told CNN that the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan advanced by the president-elect during his first term will likely be back on the table when he returns to office

The Trump peace plan envisioned Israel being able to annex all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory. The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed it with reservations. His settler allies, who are now part of his coalition, rejected the proposal, due to its inclusion of a potential Palestinian state.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks during a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Addressing reporters in Jerusalem on Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state as a “realistic” goal amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said in response to a question over the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab countries.

A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state,” Sa’ar added, referring to the Palestinian terror group in Gaza with which Israel has been at war since October 7, 2023.

The normalization drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords, overseen by Trump, and the process could resume after he returns to the White House.

While Sa’ar spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas’s allied Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

Jacob Magid and AFP contributed to this report.

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