Israel's political landscape is in the way of Trump's plans for world trade bypassing Russia.
Israeli government ‘flabbergasted’ by US pushback on West Bank annexation
You have key leaders in the Israeli government who are really quite flabbergasted about what’s going on.
This is something they had agreed on as part of the agreement to form this government, and now they’re being told by the White House in no uncertain terms that the US would pull the plug on support to Israel.
This is something no one can afford.
Benjamin Netanyahu himself issued several statements and positions to indicate that his party had nothing to do with this, that this was internal politics at play and that Israel was not going to move ahead with annexation now.
That will cost him in the weeks to come with his right-wing base, which voted him in because they wanted annexation.
Far-right Israeli minister slams Saudi Arabia for pushing Palestinian statehood for normalisation
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Saudi Arabia should “keep riding camels” if it asks for a Palestinian state as a condition to normalise relations with Israel.
“If Saudi Arabia tells us normalisation in exchange for a Palestinian state, friends, no thank you”, Smotrich said at a conference in Israel. “We’ll keep truly developing – with an economy, a society, a state and all the great and wonderful things we know how to do,” he said.
However, his comments were slammed by Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who wrote on X in a post directed at Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, that Smotrich “does not represent the State of Israel” and called on him to apologise.
Israel’s former Defence Minister Benny Gantz also said Smotrich’s comments “indicate ignorance, and a lack of internalisation of his responsibility as a senior minister in the government and cabinet”.
Several countries sign statement condemning Israeli push to annex West Bank
Fifteen countries, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have signed a statement denouncing the Israeli parliament’s first vote approving the annexation of the occupied West Bank and legalising an illegal settlement.
According to the statement, the signatories called the parliament’s decision a “flagrant violation of international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions”.
“They reaffirm that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories. These states welcome the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice issued on October 22, 2025, on Israel’s obligations in and in connection with the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement read.
“These countries warn against the continuation of unilateral and illegal Israeli policies and practices, and call on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities, [and] compel Israel to halt its dangerous escalation and illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
