(JTA) — The treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a big deal. The agreement, announced Thursday in a joint statement from the White House and called the Abraham Accord, means that Israel will now have diplomatic and economic relations with a country that had not recognized… Read more »
Tagged West Bank annexation
Suspect arrested in vandalism of Israel’s Donald Trump Square
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Police arrested a man suspected of turning the water blood red in a fountain in a square in Israel named for Donald Trump. The Hebrew words for “Annexation will cost us in blood” also were found painted in red on the ground at the site in… Read more »
I’m an Israeli settler. American Jews are debating my future, but here’s what they don’t understand.

MITZPE YERICHO, West Bank (JTA) — It’s been surreal watching from Israel as Americans discuss my future. I’ve gotten used to presidents spending years developing plans for my neighborhood and other towns in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank — they mean well and I truly… Read more »
4 reasons why Israel’s West Bank annexation plans aren’t happening on July 1

(JTA) — Since April, all eyes following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been glued to July 1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had negotiated the date into his government coalition deal with his rival Benny Gantz. On July 1, as stipulated in the agreement, Netanyahu could put the topic of annexing… Read more »
July 1 ‘not sacred date’ for annexation, Benny Gantz tells US peace plan diplomats
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Defense Minister Benny Gantz of Israel told Trump administration diplomats on Monday that the July 1 date set for starting to annex parts of the West Bank is “not a sacred date.” Meeting in Israel with Avi Berkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for international negotiations, and… Read more »
Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down law allowing expropriation of Palestinian land for settlement outposts
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a 2017 law that would allow the expropriation of private Palestinian land on which illegal outpost homes were built. The ruling issued Tuesday in an 8-1 decision said the law “infringes on property rights and equality for Palestinian residents, and places… Read more »
In a dramatic shift, AIPAC gives lawmakers a green light to criticize Israel over annexation

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The leading pro-Israel lobby in the United States is telling lawmakers that they are free to criticize Israel’s looming annexation plans — just as long as the criticism stops there. Two sources — a congressional aide and a donor — say the American Israel Public Affairs… Read more »
Slow down annexation process, Jared Kushner and other US officials tell Netanyahu
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a conference call with Jared Kushner and other top White House officials to discuss slowing down West Bank annexation plans, an Israeli TV station reported. Channel 13 in its report Monday cited an unnamed senior Israeli source that the Trump… Read more »
Joe Biden to Jewish donors: ‘I do not support annexation,’ will reverse Trump policies on Israel and the Palestinians

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Biden said that as president he would reverse Trump administration policies that have led to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. “I do not support annexation,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told Jewish donors on Tuesday during a fundraising webinar. “I’m going… Read more »
David Friedman gave Netanyahu half a nod for West Bank annexation. What happens next?

WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Israel “has the right to retain” some of the West Bank. Palestinians fumed, Jewish settlers rejoiced, and the punditocracy predicted gloom and doom. What was it exactly that Friedman said in a New York Times interview. And what… Read more »
More than a dozen right-wing groups want Trump to recognize an Israeli annexation of the West Bank

(JTA) — A coalition of more than a dozen conservative groups, most of them Jewish, sent a letter to President Donald Trump tacitly asking him to respect a potential Israeli annexation of West Bank settlements. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is almost certainly headed to a fifth term after… Read more »