US scolds Netanyahu for West Bank annexation plans that would ruin peace in the Middle East

The process for the final approval of the text is lengthy. Three more parliamentary ratifications are necessary for the entry into force of a law that aims to apply Israeli legislation in the West Bank. It is also unlikely to happen in the immediate future. The proposal only received this Wednesday 25 votes in favor – and another 24 against – in a chamber that has 120 seats.

However, the initiative of the ultra deputy Avi Maoz —a minority partner in the government coalition until last July— had the votes in favor of the former prime minister’s liberal Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid and the Blue and White coalition of Benny Gantz. The two main opposition leaders, in free fall in the polls, tried to expose a Benjamin Netanyahu reluctant to join the initiative so as not to irritate Trump.

Only one of the 32 deputies of the conservative Likud voted in favor of the proposal, Yuli-Yoel Edelsteinconfronted with the leadership of the party led by Netanyahu due to the prime minister’s favorable position on approving the exemption from military service for the Haredis.

To avoid misunderstandings with the White House, the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’arNetanyahu’s faithful squire despite their past quarrels, explained this Thursday that “the decision to advance the vote” did not correspond to the Government, “because there is a great effort to guarantee that Trump’s plan is successful.”

Sa’ar clarified that the law “will not advance without the support of the Israeli government.” It’s true. But the explanations of the head of Israeli diplomacy did not serve to reassure the Trump Administration because, in addition, the parliamentary vote coincided with the visit to Israel of the vice president of the United States, JD Vancewho interpreted it as a personal provocation.

On Wednesday, Vance warned that the bill’s passage jeopardized the stability of the Gaza truce and Trump’s Middle East peace plans.

Yesterday, Thursday, the vice president was much more emphatic. “The vote in the Knesset on the annexation of the West Bank was strange. If it was a political maneuver, it was a stupid political maneuver, and I was offended by it. We will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank and we were not satisfied with that vote,” he declared before leaving back to the United States.

Trump has reiterated on several occasions that he would not allow Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Interviewed by the magazine Timethe American president reaffirmed that this scenario “is not going to happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And that cannot be done now. We have had great Arab support.”

“It’s not going to happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It won’t happen. Israel would lose all its support from the United States if that happened,” he insisted.

That scenario would weigh down its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia at a time when the Wahhabi kingdom is “on the brink of its formal accession” to the Abraham Accords, according to the American diplomat. Tom Barrackconvinced that, “when Riyadh moves, others will follow in its footsteps.”

Following Vance’s fierce criticism, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement calling Wednesday’s vote “a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord” during the former Ohio senator’s visit. “The two bills were introduced by opposition members of the Knesset,” reads the statement, conveniently published in English.

The truth is that Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power, in Spanish) and Religious Zionism, the anti-Arab supremacist parties that lead Itamar Ben True y Bezalel Smotrichthe most radical members of the government coalition, supported the bill with their votes. Smotrich himself, moreover, responded to the complaints of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors in very harsh terms.

“If Saudi Arabia tells us that, in exchange for normalization, they want a Palestinian state, we will tell them: ‘Friends, no thanks, you can continue riding camels on the desert sand,’” the Finance Minister declared this Thursday during a conference organized by the religious Zionist newspaper Makor Rishonone of the reference headings among the settlers.

Smotrich acknowledged that “there is, without a doubt, a great possibility of expanding the Abraham Accords,” but made clear at the same time that his people would ensure “that a Palestinian state never exists or is established, and we will move towards peace agreements with those who know how to live with it.”

Smotrich’s contempt for the Saudis unleashed such a scandal that that same afternoon he had to qualify his words. The leader of the extreme religious right acknowledged that his comment had been “regrettable” and that he was “offended,” but asked the Saudis to refrain from denying “the heritage, tradition and rights” of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria, the predominant denomination of the West Bank in the Hebrew State.

“When it comes to annexation in general, there are two things to consider. One is that annexation in fact It already happened many years ago and continues. “Israel already applies its legislation in settlements, infrastructure, connections… the physical annexation has already been implemented,” the Palestinian analyst explains in conversation with this newspaper. Ibrahim Dalalshdirector of the Horizon Center for Political Studies in Ramallah.

“Turning that into a declaration or a law essentially does not create a new reality, but rather reveals and declares what already exists on the ground,” adds Dalalsh. “Therefore, it is not a matter of life or death for Israel to pass a law, because in fact it already has it implemented in practice.”

Marco Rubio takes over

Vance’s relief is Marco Rubio. The Secretary of State is next on Trump’s most trusted list — after his special envoy Steve Witkoffhis son-in-law Jared Kushner and his vice president—to visit Israel. Rubio landed this Thursday in Tel Aviv with the task of maintaining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and paving the way for negotiating the second phase of the peace agreement.

In the Israeli and international press the term is repeated these days Bibi-sittingwhich means something like babysitting for Netanyahu. That is, keep the Israeli Prime Minister under control so that the truce in Gaza does not blow up at the first opportunity, as almost happened last weekend.

One of the main discrepancies between the Trump Administration and the Israeli Government is the future military contingent that will be deployed in Gaza to accelerate the disarmament of Hamas. The White House negotiates with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Ankara to participate in the International Stabilization Force (ISF), in charge of supervising the ceasefire.

“We are not going to impose anything on Israel, but Turkey will play a constructive role,” Vance said this Wednesday from the Civil-Military Coordination Center of the US forces in Kiryat Gat. A premise that Netanyahu, of course, rejects outright.