Netanyahu drops plan for Judea and Samaria annexation after UAE warning

The warning followed remarks by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for Israel to annex 82 percent of the territory and urged Netanyahu to back the move. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled back from discussing annexation of Judea and Samaria, after the United Arab Emirates warned that any such move would cross a “red line” and put the Abraham Accords at risk.

Israeli officials confirmed that Emirati pressure was decisive in Netanyahu’s decision to shelve annexation from the agenda.

Abu Dhabi cautioned that applying sovereignty to large areas of Judea and Samaria would seriously undermine the normalization agreement signed in 2020. “This would destroy the Abraham Accords,” one senior Emirati official said, according to Israeli media.

The warning followed remarks by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for Israel to annex 82 percent of the territory and urged Netanyahu to back the move.

His statement drew sharp criticism from the UAE, which said such unilateral steps would undermine the spirit of normalization.

Israel’s defense establishment is expected to tell ministers that the region remains volatile, with economic collapse and political instability combining to create explosive conditions.

Officials warned that Judea and Samaria “could erupt instantly” if annexation efforts were renewed.

At the same time, military operations have recently curbed attacks, particularly in the northern refugee camps.

The pressure from the UAE also comes amid wider regional discontent over Netanyahu’s recent comments on a “Greater Israel,” which included references to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria.

Those remarks sparked protests from Amman, Doha, and Cairo. Netanyahu later issued a clarification in English that Israel has no territorial claims against its neighbors, a shift Jordanian and Egyptian leaders privately described as a diplomatic success.

While the government’s agenda now centers on security, the annexation debate remains unresolved, with regional actors watching closely to see whether Israel will test the limits of the Abraham Accords.