{"id":169988,"date":"2025-09-26T06:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/169988\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T06:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:02:13","slug":"its-not-going-to-happen-trump-says-he-wont-allow-israel-to-annex-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/169988\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s not going to happen’: Trump says he won’t allow Israel to annex West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his first public comments on the matter, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked to confirm reports<\/a> that he assured Arab and Muslim leaders of that stance during a multilateral meeting held Tuesday on the UN General Assembly sidelines.<\/p>\n

Trump also stressed that he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank,\u201d Trump repeated. \u201cThere\u2019s been enough. It\u2019s time to stop now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump made the comments as Netanyahu was arriving in New York to deliver an address to the United Nations on Friday.<\/p>\n

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France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal are among the countries that have recognized a Palestinian state in the last few days in part to help keep the possibility of a two-state solution alive.\u00a0Israel\u00a0has condemned the moves.<\/p>\n

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks via video during the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 25, 2025. (Timothy A. Clary\/AFP)<\/p>\n

A senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier this week that the Trump administration privately cautioned Israel against annexing the West Bank in response to the recent decisions by Western countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n

However, Jerusalem did not feel that the warning marked \u201can end to the discussion,\u201d and Netanyahu planned to discuss the matter with Trump during their White House meeting next week, the Israeli official said.<\/p>\n

Even if the warning had already been conveyed privately, Trump\u2019s decision to publicly declare he will not allow the West Bank to be annexed is sure to deflate hopes among settler leaders \u2014 which reached unprecedented levels following his reelection \u2014 that Israel would finally actualize their long-held dreams of annexation.<\/p>\n

Without US support, Israel is much less likely to go ahead with the move, which would have diminished significance without backing from the world\u2019s leading superpower and spark massive international backlash. A top Emirati official warned in an exclusive interview<\/a> with The Times of Israel earlier this month that annexation would be a \u201cred line\u201d that would mark the \u201cend\u201d of regional integration.<\/p>\n

BREAKING: Trump:<\/p>\n

I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow, not going to happen. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been enough, it\u2019s time to stop now. pic.twitter.com\/SwZjuRqE9j<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Clash Report (@clashreport) September 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s announcement could also spell trouble for Netanyahu\u2019s government, whose far-right partners have made annexation a central aim and may be more inclined to collapse the coalition if annexation is now out of reach.\n<\/p>\n

\u2018Close\u2019 to a deal in Gaza<\/p>\n

Earlier Thursday, Trump said that the US is \u201cclose to getting some kind of deal done\u201d in the Gaza Strip after his \u201cgreat\u201d multilateral meeting in New York with the leaders of eight Arab and Muslim countries on the issue.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during the public portion of his sit-down with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that \u201ca lot was determined in that meeting\u201d on Tuesday, during which Trump presented a 21-point plan for ending the war in Gaza and establishing a non-Hamas body to govern the Strip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to meet with Israel. They know what I want. I think we can get that one done. I hope we can get that done. A lot of people are dying,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

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US President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, September 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. (AP\/Evan Vucci)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to have to tell Israel, \u2018Let\u2019s go,’\u201d Trump added, indicating that he might exert some pressure on Netanyahu when they meet in Washington on Monday.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed US efforts to end the war and free the hostages in Gaza with Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff at the hotel where the Israeli premier is staying in New York. Netanyahu will address the UN General Assembly on Friday at about 4 p.m. Israel time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get the hostages back,\u201d Trump continued. \u201cWe want them all back at one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said steps regarding Gaza could be taken \u201ctoday,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to see that war over with. We\u2019re going to see what happens,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly predicted that a Gaza ceasefire is imminent throughout his second administration, only for talks to subsequently hit snags.<\/p>\n

But those hiccups didn\u2019t prevent Witkoff from expressing his own optimism on Wednesday, saying that he expected a \u201cbreakthrough<\/a>\u201d within days following Trump\u2019s multilateral meeting on Tuesday with Arab and Muslim leaders.<\/p>\n

While Witkoff has not revealed details of the plan, a position paper on the issue, which was given to the countries, laid out steps towards ending the war in Gaza and establishing a non-Hamas body to govern the Strip.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s team is pushing Netanyahu to agree to the 21-point plan, according to Channel 12 news, which said that the premier was briefed on the framework \u201cdays ago,\u201d and that he and Dermer \u201cdid not like\u201d all of its points.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinuing the war will isolate Israel even further, but accepting the plan and ending the war will extricate Israel from isolation and enable progress in more positive directions in the region, with US backing,\u201d a US source told the network on Thursday.<\/p>\n

However, the report said Netanyahu is uncomfortable with the fact that Trump\u2019s plan does not require Hamas to disarm and Gaza to be demilitarized as conditions for the war ending, but only post-war.<\/p>\n

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Smoke rises from Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike, September 24, 2025. (Fathi Ibrahim\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

He also does not like the provision that the new mechanism for governing Gaza will operate under the authority of the UN Security Council, the television report added.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was a key player in Trump\u2019s 2020 Deal of the Century peace plan and the Abraham Accords, was heavily involved in creating the framework along with former British prime minister Tony Blair. Kushner was filmed accompanying Witkoff to the meeting with Netanyahu and Dermer on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d0\u05d5\u05e4\u05d8\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc \u05d8\u05e8\u05d0\u05de\u05e4 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e1\u05e7\u05d4: \u05d4\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05d7 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05d8\u05e7\u05d5\u05e3 \u05d5\u05e7\u05d5\u05e9\u05e0\u05e8 \u05d7\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc \u05d8\u05e8\u05d0\u05de\u05e4, \u05d4\u05d2\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e4\u05d2\u05e9 \u05e2\u05dd \u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d1\u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05df \u05e9\u05d1\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d4\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e8\u05e7<\/p>\n

@Or_Shaked<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Mhpi10mpW4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd (@IsraelHayomHeb) September 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The White House plan is based heavily on the one crafted by Blair and revealed<\/a> by The Times of Israel last week. The former UK premier has been holding marathon meetings with regional leaders to rally support for his initiative, which would establish a transitional governing body that can administer Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is ready to take over.\n<\/p>\n

Citing people briefed on the proposal, the Financial Times said Thursday that Blair is seeking a senior role in running postwar Gaza and has been proposed to chair a supervisory board called the \u201cGaza International Transitional Authority.\u201d The Haaretz daily said earlier in the day that the US is interested in having Blair head up the GITA\u2019s international advisory board.<\/p>\n

Channel 12 reported on Wednesday evening that senior Israeli officials do not believe that Trump will \u201cforce a proposal on Israel it doesn\u2019t believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unnamed senior officials told Channel 12 that Jerusalem sees Trump\u2019s 21-point plan as a framework for creating a \u201cday after\u201d in Gaza, in cooperation with moderate Arab states.<\/p>\n

According to the outlet, the Trump administration hopes that the framework will mobilize the Arab states \u2014 which the report does not identify by name \u2014 into pouring money into the war-torn Strip and rebuilding its civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks via video during the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 25, 2025. (Timothy A. Clary\/AFP)<\/p>\n

PA urging countries to stage walkout during Netanyahu\u2019s UN speech<\/p>\n

Channel 12 also reported Thursday that the Palestinian Mission to the UN is working to arrange a walkout during Netanyahu\u2019s speech on Friday, which they hope will be joined by Arab, African and even some European countries.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the details of Netanyahu\u2019s speech told The Times of Israel that it will primarily focus on sharp criticism of European countries that have recently recognized a Palestinian state, saying the move benefits Hamas.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s ire will be focused primarily on France, according to the source.<\/p>\n

He will also pivot to the opportunities in a new Middle East after the defeat of Hamas, especially with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, not surprisingly, will express Israel\u2019s gratitude to Trump, the source added.<\/p>\n

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Israeli anti-government activists protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York City, September 25, 2025. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Outside Netanyahu\u2019s hotel in New York, around a dozen Israeli anti-government activists protested on Thursday, holding signs reading, \u201cSave Israel from Netanyahu,\u201d \u201cStop the war,\u201d and \u201cFree them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chanting \u201cBring them home,\u201d and \u201cThere is no military solution,\u201d the protesters said they seek an end to the war and the release of the hostages held in Gaza.<\/p>\n

According to organizers, the families of several hostages will also lead a protest outside the UN Headquarters Friday as Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Non-Jewish anti-Israel activist groups have also been protesting at the UN and have announced a large demonstration for Friday morning around the same time.<\/p>\n

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