The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is set to consider several bills to apply sovereignty to the whole or parts of the West Bank on Sunday, when the Knesset returns from its nearly three-month-long recess.
Despite widespread support within the coalition, the legislation is thought to have little chance of advancement due to US President Donald Trump’s opposition, which will likely lead Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to postpone any decision.
Two identical bills calling for the annexation of the entirety of the West Bank have been submitted by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech and Noam Avi Maoz. Meanwhile, a third bill to apply sovereignty to the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim is sponsored by Avigdor Liberman, the chairman of the hawkish opposition party Yisrael Beytenu.
Har-Melech’s bill states that “the law, jurisdiction, administration and sovereignty of the State of Israel shall apply to all areas of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria” and insists that these settlements constitute “an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”
Liberman’s legislation declares that “the law, jurisdiction, and administration of the State of Israel shall apply to the area of Ma’ale Adumim.”
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Members of Netanyahu’s coalition have been loudly calling to advance annexation as a response to the recognition of a Palestinian state by Western powers last month. In early September, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly called to annex 82 percent of the West Bank, even as the United Arab Emirates warned that such a move would spell the end of Israel’s integration into the Middle East.
MK Limor Son Har-Melech attends a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
According to a spokesman for Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, faction MK Ohad Tal is working on similar legislation. The Times of Israel was unable to reach Tal for comment.
Other senior members of the cabinet, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz, have also endorsed annexation. This summer, the Knesset overwhelmingly approved a non-binding motion in favor of applying Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.
American opposition
However, Trump has ruled out such a move, stating last month that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank — prompting Netanyahu’s coalition allies to insist that the premier ignore Washington.
The Prime Minister’s Office is concerned that efforts to annex the West Bank could spark a diplomatic crisis with Washington, the Kan national broadcaster reported on Wednesday.
Asked if she was concerned by such a possibility, Har-Melech told The Times of Israel that “with all due respect to President Trump, the people of Israel are the masters and sovereigns in their own land, and the role of the president of the United States is to ensure that this remains so — not, heaven forbid, the opposite.”
Arguing that applying sovereignty to the West Bank is a prelude to annexing the Gaza Strip (something which has also been ruled out by Washington), Har-Melech expressed skepticism that the government would actually advance her bill “for fear of the Trump administration’s reaction.”
US President Donald Trump talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Oct. 13, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)
Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, a co-sponsor of Liberman’s legislation, also expressed doubt that the government would support his party’s bill, despite having recently given its approval to the controversial E1 settlement expansion plan that will add thousands of new housing units to the city of Ma’ale Adumim.
“Unfortunately, the current coalition has so far proven that it is good at talking about sovereignty but weak in action,” Forer said, noting that it had twice voted down bills to annex the Jordan Valley.
They support it, but…
The idea of applying sovereignty in the West Bank is incredibly popular and “there is a majority in the Knesset to annex today,” one coalition insider told The Times of Israel on Thursday.
“The reason it’s not on the agenda is because Netanyahu has made it very clear that he’s not going to support anything of the sort. You can say it’s because of Trump,” the source explained. “You can say it’s because of his own fear of global isolation or a regional war or whoever knows what it is that he’s thinking. But if there was a secret ballot in the Knesset today, a majority would definitely annex.”
According to the source, Netanyahu is unlikely to nix the bills completely but rather to postpone voting on them for a matter of months, a fact known to their sponsors, who are engaged in “political spin” ahead of the next Knesset election, which is scheduled for October 2026 but might be held before that.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gestures toward a map of the West Bank during a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, September 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“Liberman can attack the government from the right. Ben Gvir can say: ‘Look, this is the time to do it,’” the source said, referring to Otzma Yehudit chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“I’m a huge supporter of sovereignty, but someone who thinks this type of move can be done without the prime minister’s approval — he’s just making a fool of himself,” a Likud MK, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Times of Israel. “The real work needs to be on putting pressure on the PM to move along with this.”
Another party lawmaker concurred, saying that the government will “probably find a way to postpone it without saying that they are against it,” even as most Likud MKs are in favor.
A spokesman for Likud did not respond to a request for comment.
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