Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

MK urges Netanyahu to apply sovereignty before new US president sworn in

“If [U.S. President Donald] Trump indeed loses, we will have to take this measure,” said Yamina Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich.

Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich at a conference in Lod on July 22, 2019. Photo by Flash90.
Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich at a conference in Lod on July 22, 2019. Photo by Flash90.

Yamina Party Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria before the next U.S. president is sworn in, in case former U.S. Vice President and current Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins.

“If [U.S. President Donald] Trump indeed loses, we will have to take this measure and apply sovereignty” while he remains in office and before Biden takes over, Smotrich said in an interview with army radio on Thursday.

“I have no doubt,” he added, “that Biden will also continue the American administration’s long-standing policy of friendliness towards Israel.”

Smotrich said there could be disagreements with a Biden administration, but that “it can be managed.”

Biden’s vice-presidential running mate Kamala Harris said in an interview last week with The Arab American that they would “oppose annexation or settlement expansion.”

“And we will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington,” she said.

The president’s legal adviser, Michal Tzuk, will review the position paper submitted by Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and present her recommendations to the president.
José Tomás Zambrano says U.S.–Israel campaign could weaken Tehran’s terror reach in Central and South America.
“We must not return to the Oct. 6 situation where the enemy is on our fences,” the finance minister said.
“This is, thank God, the seventh time they have unsuccessfully tried to eliminate me,” said Israel’s national security minister.
Their arrival, along with another Marine unit of similar size on its way from San Diego, will bolster the 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region.
The move follows months of rallies in the area; Jewish groups praise police directive while critics call it long overdue.