Rubio warns: Knesset bill for Judea & Samaria annexation threatens Trump Peace Plan

After the Knesset passed two bills advancing the annexation of territories in Judea and Samaria over the opposition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio warned that the action could be “threatening to the peace deal.” 

One of the bills approved on Wednesday, put forward by MK Avi Maoz of the Noam party, called for the application of sovereignty to all Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, while the other, put forward by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman, called for the application of Israeli sovereignty only in the city of Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem. 

Both bills passed narrowly, despite the opposition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party who wanted to avoid offending the U.S.

Secretary Rubio criticized the move. He is expected to arrive in Israel on Friday for a two-day visit as part of U.S. efforts to keep President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan on track.

“They passed a vote in the Knesset, but the president has made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now,” Rubio told reporters before his flight to Israel. “We think there’s potential for [it to be even] threatening to the peace deal.” 

“They’re a democracy, people are going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time we think it might be counterproductive,” he added. 

Rubio’s arrival will mark his fourth visit to Israel since being appointed Secretary of State in January. 

The vote created a highly unusual constellation in which the Likud Party abstained, the opposition parties Yisrael Beitenu, Yesh Atid and Blue and White supported the bill alongside the far-right parties Religious Zionism and Jewish Power, while opposition came from the far-left Democrats, Arab parties, and parts of the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Following the voting, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who ran on a platform of expanding settlements in Judea and Samaria and applying Israeli sovereignty there, called for Netanyahu to “apply full sovereignty to all the territories of Judea and Samaria.” 

“Mr. Prime Minister, The Knesset has spoken,” Smotrich wrote to 𝕏. “The people have spoken. The time has come to apply full sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria – the inheritance of our forefathers – and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbors, from a position of strength.” 

Hebrew media reported that Netanyahu’s office sent a note to Smotrich, highlighting that the U.S. does not want Israel to apply sovereignty in the territories at this time. “When the vice president, Vance, is visiting here, you don’t stick a finger in his eye,” the message said. 

The hawkish opposition party head Avigdor Liberman shared a statement on 𝕏, saying, “Every time we bring up sovereignty laws, the Bibi-Tibi coalition tries to torpedo them. This time they didn't succeed. Israeli sovereignty in the Land of Israel. They babble, we act. History!” 

Lieberman was referring to Arab MK Ahmad Tibi, from the Ta’al party, which opposes Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. 

Meanwhile, the move was heavily criticized by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and several Arab states.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority's Foreign Ministry condemned the vote, saying it “strongly rejects the Knesset’s attempts to annex Palestinian land.”

“The occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, constitute a single geographic unit over which Israel has no sovereignty,” it said.

Hamas said in a statement, "The vote by the Knesset of the Zionist occupation on two bills to annex the West Bank and impose sovereignty over the so-called Ma'ale Adumim settlement 'in the preliminary reading' reflects the ugly face of colonial occupation, which insists on continuing its attempts to 'legalize' settlement and impose Zionist 'sovereignty' over the occupied Palestinian territories."

“We affirm that the occupation’s frantic attempts to annex West Bank lands are invalid and illegitimate,” the terror group added.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the votes in the “strongest terms”, calling them a “blatant violation of the historical rights of the Palestinian people and a challenge to international law.”

The Saudi Foreign Ministry also denounced the votes, expressing its "complete rejection of all settlement and expansionist violations."

Jordan's Foreign Ministry, in a statement on 𝕏, called the move "a blatant violation of international law, an undermining of the two-state solution, and an infringement on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their independent, sovereign state."