📰 ‘Maximum territory and minimum Arabs’: Smotrich unveils ‘sovereignty plan’ for 82% of the Occupied West Bank “There is and never will be a Palestinian state in our land.” — Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister who also holds a Defense Ministry portfolio over West Bank civilian administration, doubled down this morning on his demand that Netanyahu immediately move to annex the Occupied West Bank. 📌 Key details: 1.Two “Consensus Points”: ▪️ No Palestinian state: Smotrich declared that after October 7, it is “out of the question” to establish a Palestinian state — which he labeled a “terror state in the heart of the land” and that could leave Israel within what he termed “Auschwitz borders.” ▪️ Sovereignty: He said Israel must apply sovereignty to West Bank territories — “The broad consensus for sovereignty stems from the understanding that we cannot allow an existential threat to grow within us.” 2.Annexation Formula: Smotrich proposed applying Israeli law to 82% of the West Bank under a guiding principle of “maximum land with minimum Arabs.” Palestinians, he said, would continue under the PA “for now,” and later under local administrative frameworks designed to prevent any national collective. 3.Dismissal of Security Warnings: Brushing off concerns from Israel’s security establishment, Smotrich ridiculed what he called “scaremongering clichés” that sovereignty would “set the Middle East on fire.” He compared it to past warnings over settlement expansion: “We did it, and nothing happened. That’s exactly what will happen with sovereignty.” 4.October 7 as Justification: He framed October 7th as proof that decades of withdrawals and restraint had only fueled terror: “We are done surrendering to threats and intimidation… If the Palestinian Authority dares to lift its head, we will destroy it just like Hamas.” https://t.co/tGMBb7PS00 Appeal to Netanyahu: Smotrich urged the Prime Minister to seize the moment and enshrine annexation, promising it would mark the current government as a “historic turning point” and Netanyahu himself as “the leader who once and for all rescued Israel from the existential threat euphemistically called a Palestinian state.” ➤ Joining Smotrich was Yisrael Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council — the largest West Bank settlement bloc — and since 2024 chair of the Yesha Council, the umbrella for settlers. A leading public face of the annexation drive, Gantz echoed the call for Israeli ‘sovereignty.’ Bottom Line: For Smotrich and Gantz, the path forward rests on two pillars — permanently blocking Palestinian statehood and unilaterally annexing the West Bank.