Israel
Knesset pushes through two bills on West Bank settlement annexation despite government opposition
The motions, sponsored by the far-right Noam party, passed an initial reading with the help of a Likud rebel
October 23, 2025 09:10
The motions, sponsored by the far-right Noam party, passed an initial reading with the help of a Likud rebel
October 23, 2025 09:10The Knesset yesterday narrowly passed an opposition-sponsored bill, rejected by Prime Minister Netanyahu, calling for the annexation of the West Bank settlements, with the help of a Likud rebel.
Most MKs from the prime minister's party boycotted the vote, but Yuli Edelstein broke ranks to pass the bill 25-24.
Edelstein, who was voted out of his role as chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence committee by his fellow Likud members in July during a row over the Charedi conscription bill, was dismissed from that same committee by the party as a result.
The bill would require the government to begin the process of absorbing all of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank into Israel.
MKs also passed a second bill, limited to annexing a single major settlement in the territory.
In response, Likud accused the right-wing lawmakers who pushed the bills through of "trolling".
The party said: "We strengthen settlements every day with actions, budgets, construction, industry, and not with words.
"True sovereignty [over the West Bank] will be achieved not with a show-off law for the protocol, but by working properly on the ground and creating the political conditions appropriate for the recognition of our sovereignty, as was done in the Golan Heights and in Jerusalem."
The bills have now passed first reading but will have to go through three more parliamentary stages to become law. It is understood that Likud is unlikely to allow them to progress that far.
But any extension of such "sovereignty" will likely face stiff opposition from Israel's key international ally - the Trump administration.
Following the votes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that any annexation could disrupt the president's plan for regional peace.
He told reporters: "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.
"They’re a democracy, people are going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time we think… it might be counterproductive."
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