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Senior Likud member calls for sovereignty over Jordan Valley while Trump in office

Coalition chairman Miki Zohar says Israel should impose sovereignty before Biden takes office.

By World Israel News Staff

Government coalition chairman Miki Zohar of the Likud Party called Thursday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley before the change of government in the United States.

Speaking by video to the conference “Lighting Sovereignty over the Jordan Valley” that was held at the Sartaba outlook in the Jordan Valley, Zohar said that while Israel should immediately apply Israeli sovereignty over the strategic Jordan Valley, the government should move further and apply sovereignty to all of Judea and Samaria.

“I think the government needs to act to advance sovereignty in the Jordan Valley,” Zohar told the conference via video because he is self-isolating at home after coming into contact with a person infected with coronavirus. “The government has to also advance sovereignty with this opportunity on many communities, if not all the communities.”

“I am personally working on this with the prime minister and am trying to convince him that this is an opportunity that might not happen again,” Zohar said.

Although Netanyahu planned to apply sovereignty to settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria in July, the signing of the Abraham Accords with Gulf Arab countries pushed the move off to a future date.

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Several other Knesset members and cabinet ministers spoke remotely at the event that was broadcast live from the Jordan Valley, with journalist Emily Amrousi moderating the participants on behalf the organization The Sovereignty Movement, which sponsored the event.

The speakers included numerous Kneset members and cabinet ministers who spoke in favor of a campaign calling on Israel to impose sovereignty before the expected upcoming Israeli elections in March and before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. Biden has said he is opposed to any such unilateral Israeli moves.

Knesset member Uzi Dayan of the Likud, a former deputy commander of the IDF who was involved in peace talks with the Palestinians, said that even if the sovereignty process itself is delayed, he is working with heads of councils in the area on a plan of action to make the Jordan Valley flourish and to strengthen settlement and tourism in that part of the country.