By Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today—
If he wins reelection next week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to annex the Jordan Valley. Though his opponents see this pledge as political spin, whispers of an agreement on the matter between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump suggests that this time around, Israel (through Netanyahu) means business. As do the frantic condemnations from the UN Secretary General, European powers and heads of Arab states.
“If I’m reelected,” said Netanyahu on September 10, “I will impose Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. Give me the power to secure Israel’s security. Give me the power to decide on Israel’s borders.” Netanyahu qualified his pledge by saying that such a move requires a supportive coalition, which, if the polls are to be believed, is anything but certain. Netanyahu has also said that the annexation of the Jordan Valley would be only the first step toward annexing other areas in Judea and Samaria.
Following Netanyahu at the podium was Moshe Feiglin, head of the right-wing Zehut party, whose own speech was called by one of Israel’s leading historians the most Zionistic public address in recent years. “The Prime Minister’s statement is nothing short of historic,” said Feiglin, who recently merged his party with Netanyahu’s Likud in order to avoid wasting votes on right-wing parties that have little chance of passing the electoral threshold.
Feiglin went on to explain that Netanyahu’s vow marked the “first time since the signing of the damned Oslo Accord that the Israeli Right is ready to implement an alternative strategy to that of the Left.” The significance of the prime minister’s statement, Feiglin continued, lies in the fact that it unapologetically states that “we are not colonialists in our own land, that we have every right to impose sovereignty over this area because it is our Land, and ours alone.” Continue Reading….