TEL AVIV: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday welcomed US President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, saying that “the time has come” to extend full Israeli sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank.
Speaking at a party conference, Smotrich termed Trump’s election as a unique opportunity to solidify Israel’s presence in the occupied territory, home to around 3 million Palestinians and over 500,000 Israeli settlers.
“Trump’s victory brings an important opportunity for the State of Israel,” Smotrich told supporters, The Washington Post reported, quoting comments shared by his spokesman. While referring to moves during Trump’s first term, Smotrich said that he had directed the Defense Ministry’s settlement division and the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank to prepare annexation plans.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded statement that he has spoken three times with Trump since the election and that they “see eye to eye on the Iranian threat.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, The Washington Post reported, although it is not clear how much influence the Biden administration has over Israel after Trump’s presidential election victory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, which took office in late 2022, has accelerated expansion in the West Bank, approving strategic land acquisitions, extensive settlement construction, and increased support for settler outposts.
This expansion has sparked a rise in Palestinian property demolitions and frequent settler violence, often in the presence of Israeli security forces, according to rights groups.
The Israeli government has routinely ignored the Biden administration’s insistence that any diplomatic solution to the war in Gaza includes a path to an independent Palestinian state.