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Smotrich calls on Netanyahu to annex West Bank if ICJ declares settlements illegal

July 16, 2024 at 9:21 am

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gives a speech in front of the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on June 3, 2024 [Saeed Qaq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday to annex the occupied West Bank if the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague declares settlements to be illegal, Sputnik has reported.

Smotrich pledged to his party that he will work towards the implementation of Israeli sovereignty in the occupied Palestinian territories regardless of what happens. “They [the ICJ] must be responded to with a historic decision to apply sovereignty to the nation’s [sic] lands,” he insisted.

Last week, the Israeli government granted approval for plans to build nearly 5,300 new housing units in settlements across the occupied West Bank. The Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now said that the Israeli government’s Supreme Planning Council approved or submitted plans to build 5,295 residential units in dozens of settlements across the West Bank.

All of Israel’s settlements, and the Jewish settlers who live in them, are illegal under international law.

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