Report: Netanyahu to hold off on immediate annexation due to pressure from US

Netanyahu repotedly will postpone plans to annex parts of Judea and Samaria in response to messages from the White House.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to postpone his “immediate” plans of annexing parts of Judea and Samaria because of several messages from the White House telling him to hold off, reports Globes.

However, the report noted that there doesn’t seem to be a conflict with regard to the immediate annexation of Maaleh Adumim, a town in Judea and Samaria near Jerusalem.

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that a U.S.-Israeli panel must first work through all the issues before any action takes place.

“That committee will work with all due deliberation to get to the right spot. But it is a process that does require some effort, some understanding, some calibration. We need to see the dimensions and see that it is not inconsistent with the maps,” Friedman said.

“We will designate shortly the members of the committee from our side. We hope the Israeli government will do the same. We will be presented with the plan and the proposal and we’ll consider it as part of the agreement. And they’ll make a decision,” he added.

Following President Trump’s release of his “Deal of the Century,” which calls for Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, a spokesman for Netanyahu announced that the Israeli leader will ask his Cabinet on Sunday to approve his plan to annex parts of Judea and Samaria.

However, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin announced on Wednesday the vote will be delayed because it “requires time to prepare and work on the different documents.”

Also on Wednesday, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein promised that he will do everything in his power to make annexation happen as fast as possible.

Edelstein also said that he hopes the rival factions in the Knesset can put their political differences aside and do what is right for the country.

“I am sure that in such a rare and one-off situation that we are in, all the Zionist parties will apply themselves, [and] put the good of the country before their eyes and not let it fall to momentary political interests, so that we can finally vote in the Knesset on the application of sovereignty – and approve it in a large majority,” he said.