Trump may not back Israeli annexation plan, warn aides

Former Trump administration officials warn Israel that the president-elect may not back plans to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, adding President Trump had only backed such a move in 2020 as part of his larger peace plan.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Former President and President-elect Donald Trump may not back plans by the Netanyahu government to extend Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria, multiple former Trump administration officials warned Israeli government ministers.

According to a report Tuesday morning by The Times of Israel which cited three separate sources, at least two former Trump aides told Israeli ministers recently not to assume that Trump will support their plans to apply Israeli sovereignty over part or all of Judea and Samaria after he takes office on January 20^th.

The message was reportedly conveyed in multiple conversations over the last few months, with the latest having taken place last week.

On the other hand, the former Trump officials did not say the incoming president would oppose such steps, but merely advised Israeli leaders not to view his support as a “foregone conclusion.”

One former Trump aide emphasized that the president-elect would not support an Israeli plan to extend sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria “in a vacuum,” noting that Trump’s willingness in 2020 to back Israeli annexation plans was closely tied to Jerusalem’s acceptance of his Deal of the Century peace plan.

“If it happens, it will have to be part of a process,” the official was quoted as saying.

In 2020, ahead of the presidential election, Israel and the United States vowed to the United Arab Emirates as part of the Abraham Accords that Jerusalem would not move forward with applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria for an extended period of time.

While the duration of that prohibition was never publicized, last year, the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, claimed at a Washington conference that Israel is bound only until the end of 2024 – a claim confirmed by multiple sources who spoke with The Times of Israel.

Jason Greenblatt, who served as Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, told The Times of Israel that the “context and timing” of sovereignty plans would be crucial, and that Trump’s support for such a bid was not a “done deal.”

On Tuesday, Kan Reshet Bet reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately reassured senior government ministers that he plans on putting his 2019 annexation plans back on the agenda.

Ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) have both publicly called on the government to move forward with the sovereignty plans once Trump enters office.