Sovereignty Movement supports Minister’s call to annex Judea and Samaria as solution
As the PA breaks all the rules and unites with Hamas, and the BIden administration abandons Israel, Betzalel Smotrich calls on the PM to fulfill his promise of annexing the Biblical heartland.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened on Thursday to crush the Palestinian Authority (PA) financially if certain unilateral actions are brought against Israel in the international arena. In conjunction, he called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare Israeli sovereignty over the areas conquered in the defensive 1967 Six-Day War.
the International Criminal Court is considering issuing international arrest warrants against Israeli officials. US lawmakers began working on legislation to block the move by the ICC as it would open the possibility of the international court prosecuting American servicemen for similar actions.
It should be noted that in 2017, the US closed the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission in Washington DC after it violated US law by calling on the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli authorities. In a move that was considered questionable legality, the Biden administration reopened the mission in 2022.
In addition, the US vetoed a PA petition to the United Nations Security Council last week in which the Palestinian entity asked to be granted full membership in the UN. The PA is expected to raise the issue with the UN General Assembly in the near future. The move is considered dangerous as Fatah, the ruling party in the PA, is working on reconciling with Hamas and forming a unity government.
Meanwhile, at least five European Union countries will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state by the end of May, the E.U.’s top diplomat revealed on Monday.
All of these moves preclude bilateral negotiations as required by the Oslo Accords.
Smotrich reportedly sent a letter to Netanyahu in which he stated that the PA is an immediate danger to Israel. The minister called on the prime minister to annex the West Bank if the Palestinians don’t stop these actions.
“As soon as an arrest warrant of any kind is issued by the prosecutor of The Hague Tribunal against an Israeli citizen or soldier as part of the case that the PA is handling against Israel, and/or a unilateral decision is made in the General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state, I will unilaterally and immediately stop the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority, and order the cancellation of the indemnity given to the Israeli cross-fund banks that transfer funds to banks in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich wrote. “Unilateral measures will be met with unilateral measures,” he stated.
“[The PA] draws encouragement and legitimacy for its actions from the Biden administration’s turning its back on Israel in legal contexts through the imposition of sanctions on the settlers, and apparently also on the IDF, as well as from the harsh tones of the leaders of European countries against Israel in the context of the war in Gaza,” Smotrich wrote.
The US State Department slammed Smotrich’s comments, stating. ““These reports about directives to support illegal outposts in the West Bank, we believe that to be dangerous and reckless,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a daily briefing.
The US opposes the settlements and believes they violate international law, he added. Washington “will continue to urge Israeli officials to refrain from taking actions to fund outposts that have long been illegal under Israeli law,” the State Department spokesperson said.
The State Department’s statements were, in fact, inaccurate. In 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated at a policy briefing that “the Trump administration is reversing the Obama administration’s approach towards Israeli settlements.” He added: “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”
This was reversed by Antony Blinken in February after Israel announced it would build 3,000 housing units in response to a Palestinian terrorist attack.
“It’s been long-standing U.S. policy, under Republican and Democratic administrations alike, that new settlements are counterproductive to reaching an enduring peace,” said Blinken, adding, “They’re also inconsistent with international law.”
It should be noted that Blinken was referring to housing built by and for Jews. The US has never voiced any objections to construction by the PA that violates international law and the Oslo Accords.
A statement was released by the Sovereignty Movement supporting Smotrich’s stance.
“The Sovereignty Movement supports Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who calls on the Prime Minister to respond assertively to steps being taken by the PA, to sever all ties, including economic, with its leaders, to cause its collapse and apply Israeli sovereignty over the entire area of Judea and Samaria,” the statement read.
“This step is called for not as punishment to a terrorist regime, which persecutes Israel and works toward its destruction, but as a historical necessity and an expression of justice, morality, and the dream of generations of the Jewish People, full Israeli sovereignty over the entire area of the Land of Israel. “
“The Sovereignty Movement appeals to the Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, and calls on him to join the Finance Minister’s declaration in the spirit of what he wrote in his book, “A Place among the Nations”.
It should be noted that in January 2020, Netanyahu promised to “apply [Israel’s] laws to the Jordan Valley and all settlements in Judea and Samaria,” implying that he would not wait for an actual peace deal to begin annexing areas of the West Bank. One month later, he reneged on that promise, stating that Israeli sovereignty would be dependent on approval of the US government.
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