'MBS Was Willing to Go a Long Way Toward Israel, but Netanyahu and His Coalition Have Become Unhinged'
There's a split-screen between Riyadh, where the Saudi Crown Prince accused Israel of genocide and called for the full recognition of Palestine, and Jerusalem, where far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich is prepping for annexation. Can the Trump administration still push normalization under these conditions?
To understand the source of the Saudi frustration, one should look no further than another public statement made on Monday, this time in Jerusalem, by Israel's Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich. Standing in front of the cameras in the halls of the Israeli Knesset, Smotrich announced that, due to Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, the year 2025 will be "Israel's year of annexation."
His plan is to officially annex the occupied West Bank, turning the disputed territory into an official part of Israel – but, of course, without giving citizenship or equal rights to the millions of Palestinians living there.
And it's not just the West Bank. Smotrich is also pushing for Israel to build new settlements in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, in areas from which the Israeli military has displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
His far-right party, which has been collapsing in the polls but still enjoys a strong position inside Netanyahu's current coalition, isn't trying to disguise this plan, which is not supported by any of Israel's allies abroad. To the contrary: the Smotrich camp is openly celebrating the possibility of a depopulated northern Gaza ripe for Jewish settlement.
Netanyahu is silent in the face of their extremism, too weak and afraid to confront Smotrich, who could bring down the government if the prime minister dared to speak out against him.
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