Knesset passes two West Bank annexation bills in ‘embarrassment’ to Netanyahu
The prime minister’s opposition to the bills comes as US officials have been warning Tel Aviv against implementing its annexation plans
Israel’s Knesset passed two West Bank annexation bills on 22 October following preliminary readings, despite opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party.
The first bill called for applying Israeli “sovereignty” over all settlements in the occupied West Bank. It passed with 25–24 votes in the Knesset.
A more limited bill focusing on the annexation of the Maale Adumim settlement passed with a vote of 32–9. Both bills require another three readings.
All members of Netanyahu’s Likud boycotted the vote except for MK Yuli Edelstein.
“Israeli sovereignty in all parts of our homeland is the order of the day,” Edelstein said in a statement.
The lawmaker was reportedly removed from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as a result.
The passing of the two bills – described by the Times of Israel as an “embarrassment” to Netanyahu – coincided with visits to Israel by US Vice President JD Vance, envoy Steve Witkoff, and US President Donald Trump's former advisor Jared Kushner.
Trump’s government has previously announced opposition to Israeli plans for annexing the occupied West Bank.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, before departing for Israel, that annexation plans could threaten the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“They passed a vote in the Knesset, but the president has made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now. We think there’s potential for [it to be even] threatening to the peace deal,” Rubio said.
Israel has rapidly accelerated the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank recently.
Last month, Netanyahu signed off on reviving the controversial E1 settlement project. The project aims to link Maale Adumim to occupied East Jerusalem – which is viewed as integral to a future Palestinian state.
Settlers have also escalated brutal attacks on Palestinian communities, forced displacement, and illegal land grabs.
Israel’s expansion in the occupied West Bank comes in response to the recent recognition of Palestine by several European and western countries.
A few months ago, Israel's cabinet voted to take full responsibility for land registration in Area C of the occupied West Bank – an area comprising around 60 percent of the territory and home to the vast majority of Israeli settlements. The move was described as a de facto annexation.
In a statement, Hamas said Wednesday’s Knesset votes “expose the ugly face of the Zionist colonial occupation, which insists on pursuing its attempts to ‘legalize’ settlement activity and impose Zionist ‘sovereignty’ over occupied Palestinian land – in blatant violation of all relevant international laws and resolutions.”
“We affirm that the occupation’s frenzied attempts to annex West Bank territory are null and void and will not alter the reality that the West Bank is Palestinian land – as affirmed by history, international law, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued in 2024,” it added.