Smotrich West Bank annexation call reveals expansionist nature: Iran

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Nov 2024 20:24

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson expresses disappointment over the United States and Germany's failure to hold Israeli leaders accountable.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei (Mehr news agency)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson denounced Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, calling it another example of the occupying regime’s expansionist ambitions.

In a statement, Esmail Baghaei warned that Smotrich's remarks were "another clear sign of the racist nature is the expansionist nature and aggressive approach of the regime, whose formation and expansion was based on the usurpation of Palestinian land and the killing and forced displacement of Palestinians."

Referring to the Israeli regime's 76-year-long policy of territorial encroachment and settlement expansion, Baghaei described this policy as part of a broader plan aimed at the annihilation of the Palestinian people, a strategy being carried out with increasing brutality over the past year.

He underscored the legal and moral responsibility of all governments to prevent and condemn acts of genocide and to address war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Iranian diplomat also expressed disappointment over the United States and Germany's failure to hold Israeli leaders accountable and bring them to justice in an international tribunal or the International Court of Justice.

Baghaei urged the international community and the UN Security Council to take firm action to halt the genocide in Palestine and the escalating aggression of the occupation regime in Lebanon and across the West Asian region.

He underscored that any entity disregarding the principles of international law and the UN Charter—and whose declared policy is to undermine the United Nations and its standards—is unfit for membership in this international organization.

Elsewhere, the Iranian spokesperson underlined that the oppression and crimes committed by the occupation will not weaken the steadfast resolve of the Palestinian people to pursue their legitimate right to self-determination and to seek liberation from military occupation and apartheid.

Israeli Finance Minister pledges West Bank annexation in 2025

On Monday, Smotrich announced his commitment to annexing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank by 2025, seeing Donald Trump's return to the US presidency as "an important opportunity."

"The year 2025 will be, with God's help, the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," he said, using the biblical name for the West Bank, which "Israel" has occupied since 1967.

Smotrich, whose portfolio also includes responsibilities within the Israeli Security Ministry, said he had initiated preparations for "applying sovereignty" over Israeli settlements.

Addressing parliament, he mentioned directing the director of settlement affairs in the Security Ministry and the so-called Civil Administration to "prepare the necessary infrastructure for sovereignty."

Smotrich congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his "incredible and sweeping victory," suggesting it presents "an important opportunity" for "Israel".

"During his first term, President Trump led dramatic moves," he noted.

These included recognizing "Israel’s" sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, relocating the US embassy to occupied al-Quds, and brokering normalization agreements between "Israel" and several Arab nations, known as the "Abraham Accords".

Before the accords, "Israel" had planned to annex major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, a plan postponed as the agreements were formalized.

"We were on the verge of applying sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said. "Now is the time to do it."

He indicated plans to work closely with the incoming US administration on this issue.

Trump names pro-'Israel' hawk Mike Huckabee as ambassador

On Tuesday, Trump announced the nomination of Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to "Israel" under his incoming administration.

Huckabee's nomination has stirred interest due to his past remarks on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including his controversial claim that "there is no such thing as an occupation" in Palestinian territories.

In 2017, he was present in Maale Adumim for the expansion of one of "Israel's" largest illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"There's no such thing as the West Bank – it's Judea and Samaria," he told CNN at the time, using terms often favored by Israeli settlers.

Idea of Palestinian statehood 'unrealistic': Israeli FM

Earlier on Monday, "Israel’s" new Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the idea of Palestinian statehood, calling it "unrealistic" following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s renewed demand for a sovereign state.

"I don't think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic," Saar told reporters.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned Saar’s comments, calling them an "extension of the war of extermination and displacement against our people" and a "disregard for international legitimacy" and consensus on a two-state solution.