Smotrich Prepares for Sovereignty Drive Ahead of Trump Inauguration

Photo Credit: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrive at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also manages the Defense Ministry’s civilian administration in Judea and Samaria, declared on Monday that he had instructed his staff to start developing the “necessary infrastructure” to extend Israeli sovereignty to the disputed territories.

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s election “brings an important opportunity for the State of Israel,” Smotrich declared at a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

The minister told lawmakers he intends to table a government decision stating that Israel will “work with the new administration of President Trump and the international community to apply sovereignty and achieve American and international recognition.”

Next year will be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” stated Smotrich, adding that Trump, “who showed courage and determination during his first term, will support the State of Israel in this move.”

2025 – שנת הריבונות ביהודה ושומרון

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“Today, there is a broad consensus in the coalition and in the opposition from all parts of the Knesset against the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel,” he continued. Calling Palestinian terrorists the “new Nazis,” he said that they will “have to pay the price in territory to be taken from them forever—both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.”

He added: “We will cut off their hope of destroying us and declare to the entire world that we are here to stay and are not going anywhere.”

Smotrich said he was looking forward to strengthening cooperation with the United States “for the benefit of strengthening the economic and commercial relations,” accusing the Biden administration of having boycotted his office for the past four years while “intervening in Israeli democracy.”

According to a report on Tuesday on Israel’s public Kan Reshet Bet radio station, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately stated that the issue of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria should be put back on the agenda as soon as Trump enters the White House again on Jan. 20.

As part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords signed in late 2020 that normalized Israel’s diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Netanyahu agreed to suspend plans to extend Israeli sovereignty.

Trump assured Abu Dhabi at the time that the U.S. would not recognize Jerusalem’s sovereignty in Judea and Samaria until 2024 at the earliest.

Before the sovereignty plans were shelved, American and Israeli officials established a joint working group to coordinate the potential move.

A senior Israeli government official told Srugim, a news site catering to the religious Zionist community, that “already in 2020, [Israeli Justice Minister Yariv] Levin carried out comprehensive staff work with the Americans and prepared orders, maps and regulations. There is even already a government decision. Everything is ready.”

However, an unnamed official in the incoming U.S. administration told Israel’s Channel 12 News on Tuesday that “there are currently no talks on the issue and it is not on the agenda at all.”

The American source indicated that the president-elect would prioritize a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an issue he claimed was also “more important” to the government in Jerusalem.

s “higher” on President-elect Trump’s agenda is, for example, the agreement with Saudi Arabia, an issue he emphasizes is also “more important to the Israeli government.”

Leaders and activists across Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have been nearly unanimous in their response to Trump’s victory.

“Time for sovereignty!” Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz, who also leads the Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish towns, tweeted on Nov. 6, adding: “One strong Trump, one Jewish state.”

Beit El Council head Shai Alon told Israel’s Maariv newspaper on Thursday: “It is time to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”

Trump will usher in a “golden age,” he said. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to act more strongly in the ​​Judea and Samaria areas, to put an end to murderous terrorism here and to continue broad and extensive Israeli construction throughout the entire territory.”

David Friedman, who served as Washington’s ambassador to Jerusalem under Trump and is reportedly being considered for reappointment, earlier this year published a book that presents a view for peace that doesn’t depend on the long-argued-for “two-state solution” and would allow for full Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.