Landslide Knesset vote approves non-binding proposal to annex West Bank
The Israeli Knesset
Daniel Tester reports in Middle East Eye on 23 July 2025:
Israel’s Knesset approved a motion calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the latest move in an ongoing campaign to strengthen Israel’s hold on the occupied Palestinian territory. The proposal is non-binding and serves largely as a symbolic gesture that does not affect the legal status of the West Bank but will help build momentum towards a possible move on the territory, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
“This move would make it clear to the world that Israel will not accept solutions that involve dangerous territorial concessions, and that it is committed to its future as a secure Jewish state,” the proposal says.
Besides receiving broad support across the Likud coalition, the conseravtive Yisrael Beiteinu party also voted in favour of the motion, along with independent MK Idan Roll and far-right Noam party leader Avi Maoz. The motion was initiated by Likud member Dan Illouz and three other MKs, including Minister for Settlements Orit Strook.
Last year a similar motion rejecting Palestinian statehood received emphatic cross-party support, passing 68-9.
“The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” declared Knesset speaker Amir Ohana following the vote.
‘Window of opportunity’
The vote comes amid heightened international pressure surrounding the issue of Palestinian statehood, with world leaders set to meet at an international summit on the topic at the UN headquarters in New York in September.
In May, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer warned the UK and France that recognition of a Palestinian state would be met by unilateral Israeli action towards annexation, according to anonymous diplomatic sources cited by Haaretz.
The vote follows a conference hosted on Monday by five Likud MKs titled “Sovereignty Now – Realizing the Window of Opportunity to Apply Sovereignty to Judea and Samaria,” organised in cooperation with an NGO called The Sovereignty Movement.