The Knesset narrowly adopted, in its preliminary reading, a bill to apply Israeli "sovereignty" over the West Bank this Wednesday, passing it despite diplomatic pressure and attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to slow down the process.

Another, more limited bill to "annex" a major city settlement was also passed.

The bills must still pass three additional votes in the plenum and will now be referred to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further consideration. It is highly unlikely that Netanyahu will allow either of the two bills to pass into law.

The first bill was approved in a preliminary reading by a vote of 25 to 24 and is now being forwarded to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. 

This comes although Trump told reporters at the White House in September, "I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank."

"It's not going to happen," he asserted.

Deputy Avi Maoz from the Noam party had introduced the preliminary bill, calling it “a moment of historic reparation,” stating that “the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Land of Israel to the people of Israel,” and asserting that “settling in the Land of Israel is redemption and national rebirth.”

Divisions surface, again

The vote revealed a deep division in the Israeli parliament, with the religious right-wing parties, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), Noam, and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home), voting in favor. In contrast, the centrist and left-wing parties, including Yesh Atid (There is a Future), the Labor Party, and the Arab factions, opposed it.

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Within the Likud party, most members abstained, with the notable exception of Yuli Edelstein, who supported the bill.

Following his vote, which broke ranks to vote in favor and helped the bill scrape by 25-24, Netanyahu’s Likud party decided to remove MK Yuli Edelstein from his seat on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a spokesperson for the lawmaker confirmed to The Times of Israel.

In a statement, he said that he supported the measure because “Israeli sovereignty in all parts of our homeland is the order of the day” and called on “all Zionist factions to vote in favor.”

Separate bill to 'annex' Ma’ale Adumim

A more limited "annexation" bill, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman of the opposition, also passed, by a vote of 32-9, in a preliminary reading.

Liberman’s bill calls to apply "sovereignty" to the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim near occupied al-Quds, which the government is actively working to expand.

Likud dismisses bill, others rejoice

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party dismissed the Knesset's preliminary approval of the "sovereignty" bill as "trolling... aimed at damaging our relations with the US and Israel's great achievements in the campaign" in Gaza.

“We strengthen settlements every day with actions, budgets, construction, industry, and not with words,” the party said, insisting that “true sovereignty will be achieved not with a show-off law for the protocol, but by working properly on the ground and creating the political conditions appropriate for the recognition of our sovereignty, as was done in the Golan Heights and in Jerusalem."

However, Minister of Education and Likud party member Yoav Kisch defended the government's position, stating, "I deeply believe in sovereignty, but it is not achieved through opposition initiatives," and adding, "We are building it every day on the ground."

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X: "Mr Prime Minister. The Knesset has spoken. The people have spoken."

"The time has come to impose full sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria -- the inheritance of our ancestors -- and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbours with strength," he said.

Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he was “proud” that his Otzma Yehudit party had “voted in favor of sovereignty on this “historic day".

Addressing his coalition partners in Likud, the far-right minister said that he understood “that there is pressure on you, international pressure. But the right-wing government is doing what is right for the residents of the State of Israel. And what is right for the residents of the State of Israel is sovereignty now.”