November 12, 2024
German ambassador condemns Israeli minister’s West Bank statement
Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, condemned a call by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for Israel to begin preparations for the extension of its control over the West Bank.
“The demand by Minister Smotrich to ‘apply sovereignty’ over the West Bank is an open call for annexation. Any preparation to implement this goal is in full breach of international law,” Seibert wrote on X, adding that this announcement “threatens the stability of the entire region.”
The German Foreign Ministry also strongly rejected Smotrich’s demand. “Annexation would violate international law and endanger Israel’s security,” it wrote on X.
On Monday, Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that Smotrich had instructed the Israeli settlement authority, which oversees West Bank settlements, to prepare the infrastructure necessary to apply Israeli sovereignty to the region. In addition, Smotrich posted on X: “2025 — the year of Jewish sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” referring to the territory of the West Bank.
Smotrich was pointing to plans outlined in 2020 to annex Israeli settlement blocs covering 30% of the West Bank.
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Israel has built scores of settlements there but has never annexed the territory, which is home to about 3 million Palestinians. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements, where some 500,000 Israelis live, to be illegal and obstacles to peace.
Palestinians claim the West Bank as part of an independent state with its capital in east Jerusalem.
