Netanyahu vows to annex all settlements, starting with Jordan Valley

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that if he is re-elected, he will express Israeli sovereignty over all the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, starting with the Jordan Valley.

Netanyahu said the steps would be taken in coordination with the administration of US President Donald Trump. He revealed that Trump intends to announce his Middle East peace plan the day after the September 17 election.

“This is an historic opportunity that we may not have again,” Netanyahu said in his statement that he delivered at Ramat Gan’s Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel.

Pointing to a map of the Jordan Valley, he said Israel could carry out the plan without annexing a single Palestinian and while ensuring that Palestinians maintain complete freedom of movement.

He warned that if he did not win the election, Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid would not take such steps and would not be able to handle the Trump administration’s plan.

Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz lauded Netanyahu for his commitment to annex the Jordan valley, if reelected.

“I am convinced that the US administration, always friendly towards Israel,” he said, “will support and is supporting the move.”

“The Israeli voter will be asked to pick between those who defend the security borders of the state of Israel,” he said, “and those who support giving over lands and uprooting hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes and lands.”   

But both Gantz and Lapid have said in the past that they envision keeping the Jordan Valley forever.

Blue and White and the Democratic Union asked the head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Judge Hanan Melcer, not to broadcast the speech. But he said he trusted media outlets to pull the plug on the broadcasts if Netanyahu veered into election propaganda.

The networks did indeed stop showing the speech soon after it began. .

Before Netanyahu’s address, the head of the Jordan Valley Council released a statement thanking the prime minister ‘for the historic” decision.

Right wing party Otzma Yehudit offered congratulations to Netanyahu for his Tuesday address and said they hope “the prime minister will make the right decision, to form a strong right-wing government.”

In response to Netanyahu’s address, the Yesha Council, which is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, said, “This is a very important time that the settlements have been expecting since their inception,” according to Walla.

Head of Efrat Regional Council and Yesha official Oded Ravivi lauded the speech by Netanyahu saying that “after 52 years of dancing around in circles and mostly repeating mistakes it’s good a decision was made leading to a better, clearer reality.”

The council welcomed “the historic position, which places the settlements as integral parts of the State of Israel.”

Blue and White Party reacted to Netanyahu’s statement on Tuesday, saying that “residents of the Jordan Valley are not actors in Netanyahu’s propaganda film. Blue and White stated that the Jordan Valley is part of the State of Israel forever. Netanyahu is the one who drafted a plan to waive the Jordan Valley in 2014.”

“We are pleased that Netanyahu recognized and adopted the Blue and White plan to recognize the Jordan Valley,” the party said, adding, “The relationship between the State of Israel and the US is based on common interests and values and is stronger than any prime minister. Netanyahu’s spin on Israeli citizens will end on September 17. “

Blue and White co-leader Yair Lapid slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday saying “he doesn’t want to annex lands, he wants to annex votes from [Tkuma leader Bezalel] Smotrich.”

Calling it “an election trick” Lapid asked “Netanyahu served as prime minister for 13 years, who prevented him from annexing the Jordan Valley?”

Former Education Minister and Yamina party Knesset candidate Naftali Bennett’s responded to the statement saying, “Welcome to Netanyahu’s series of promises,” Bennett said, “but they are just words.” “I am calling on the prime minister to pass ‘The Jordan Valley [annexation] Law’ tomorrow, in three readings, instead of the cameras law,” he said.

“[Former Prime Minister Mencham] Begin did this. He didn’t promise. He just passed a law in one day, December 14, 1981. In three readings,” Bennett said.

Bennett noted Netanyahu’s history of empty promises, “before Netanyahu’s election, construction was promised in E1 Ma’ale Adumim, after the election that did not happen,” he pointed out.

“Before Netanyahu’s election, he promised the death penalty for terrorists, after the election that did not happen,” he continued.

“Before Netanyahu’s election, he promised to eliminate Hamas, after the election that did not happen,” he argued.

Joint List MK Ofer Kasif reacted by saying that “to escape from prison, Netanyahu will try to annex tens of thousands of Palestinians, while depriving them of rights in what will become official apartheid.”

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh responded, “Netanyahu is the chief destroyer of the peace process and any foolish move he makes will leave negative consequences on him locally and internationally.”

He continued, “Palestine is not part of Netanyahu’s election campaign, and if he believes that annexing settlement blocs will bring him more votes in the short term, then he and Israel will be the losers in the long term.”