A top official in Israel is floating his plan to take sovereign control over the West Bank in 2025.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Monday at a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism party that he believes “the time has come to apply [Israel’s] sovereignty over the West Bank,” according to a translation from the Jerusalem Post.
“The year 2025 will be the year of sovereignty in the West Bank,” Smotrich told the members of his party. “I have instructed the Settlement Division in the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to begin comprehensive, professional groundwork to prepare the necessary infrastructure for applying sovereignty.”
This would mean the annexation of the West Bank or the forcible assertion of Israeli possession over the territory.
In his announcement, Smotrich attempted to justify the proposed takeover of the West Bank by citing Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
“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,” the finance minister said, according to a translation from the Times of Israel.
Smotrich pointed to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election last week as an opportunity to apply total control over Judea and Samaria, speculating that the incoming administration will approve of the land grab.
He said: “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.”
Trump’s reelection has introduced a new dynamic to the negotiations between Israel and its enemies — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are relying on the incoming administration to reaffirm its past support for the Jewish state.
Smotrich’s statement of intention will likely draw intense criticism from humanitarian advocates for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
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Smotrich is among the most prominent figures of Israel’s religious far-right and has long backed the forced removal of Palestinians from their land. His recent trip to France, where he spoke at an “Israel is Forever” event, drew anti-Zionist protests locally and in the media.
Netanyahu, while not as belligerent as his finance minister, has expressed similar optimism for the benefits a Trump presidency can bring to Israeli negotiating power in the Middle East.
The Israeli prime minister said he has spoken with Trump three times since his election victory and boasts that the two countries share many common goals in the region.
“We see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its components and the danger posed by it,” Netanyahu said in a video address last weekend. “We also see the great opportunities before Israel, in the expansion of peace, and in other realms.”
