In a move that has ignited fierce debate both at home and abroad, the Israeli Knesset gave preliminary approval on October 25, 2025, to two controversial bills aimed at imposing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. The razor-thin passage of these measures—25 votes to 24 for the West Bank annexation and 32 to 9 for Ma’ale Adumim—has set off a cascade of political, diplomatic, and grassroots responses, underscoring the deep fault lines that run through Israeli society and the broader Middle East.
The legislative push, spearheaded by far-right lawmakers Avi Maoz of the Noam party and Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu, comes amid a tense diplomatic climate. The bills, while still requiring three further readings to become law, signal a dramatic escalation in Israel’s decades-long struggle over the future of the West Bank, a territory under Israeli military occupation since 1967 and home to hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers and millions of Palestinians.
Palestinian leaders responded with alarm and defiance. Mouayyad Shaaban, head of the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission under the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), minced no words in his condemnation. According to Anadolu, Shaaban declared, “The decision is dangerous and amounts to a declaration of war, not only on the Palestinian people but also on the United Nations, the Security Council, and all international laws and resolutions.” He further insisted that “no Israeli decision or act can erase the Palestinian identity of the land,” urging Palestinians to assert their presence across the territory to demonstrate that “what matters is what happens on the ground.” Shaaban also called for the international community to “isolate and boycott this extremist Israeli government politically, economically, and militarily, and ban settlers, government leaders, and their associates from entering any country.”
Echoes of previous annexations were not lost on observers. Shaaban pointed to Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem, maintaining that “the minarets of Jerusalem still stand tall, and its people continue to resist. Nothing can erase the Palestinian nature of this land.” He highlighted the realities on the ground: “71% of the West Bank is under Israeli control, with more than 912 military gates, checkpoints, and bases, and over 30% of the Jordan Valley is under Israeli authority.”
The international backlash was swift and pointed. U.S. Vice President JD Vance, visiting Tel Aviv as part of a high-level delegation to monitor the fragile Gaza ceasefire, condemned the Knesset’s vote in unusually blunt terms. “Now I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote, some symbolic vote to recognise or a symbolic vote to annex the West Bank. I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, it was purely symbolic,” Vance told reporters, according to ABC News. “I mean look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel.” He added, “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed these concerns, telling reporters that the Israeli vote “would threaten this whole process” of peace, and characterizing it as a maneuver “deployed to embarrass Netanyahu, while the vice president was here.” According to ABC News, Rubio emphasized that such actions could undermine ongoing efforts to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as broader diplomatic initiatives in the region.
President Donald Trump himself weighed in, drawing a hard line in an interview with Time magazine published October 24, 2025. “It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries,” Trump said. “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
Within Israel, the bills exposed deep divisions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party largely boycotted the votes, dismissing them as a calculated provocation. Only one Likud member, Yuli Edelstein, supported the motion—a decision that cost him his seat on the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. Netanyahu’s office later posted on X, “The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel.” Still, key coalition figures, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, threw their support behind the bills. Smotrich wrote on X, “Mr Prime Minister, the Knesset has spoken. 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 neighbours, from a position of strength.”
Opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, both considered moderates, also backed the annexation of Ma’ale Adumim, highlighting the bipartisan appeal of settlement expansion in Israeli politics. However, the legislation’s path forward remains uncertain without Netanyahu’s explicit support, which he said he would not give.
The fallout extended beyond Israel and Palestine. Italian Member of the European Parliament Lucia Annunziata announced she would not join an upcoming European Parliament delegation to Israeli-occupied territories, citing the Knesset’s annexation vote. As reported by ANSA, Annunziata stated, “The Israeli Parliament is not prepared to engage in discussions about peace.” Her decision mirrored growing European criticism, as the votes drew condemnation from Hamas, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, and Jordan. Hamas described the bills as reflecting “the ugly face of the colonial occupation,” while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry reiterated that “the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, including al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip, constitute a single geographic unit over which Israel has no sovereignty.”
On the ground, violence continued to flare. According to Wafa, three Palestinian farmers were injured on October 18 and 19, 2025, after attacks by Israeli settlers in the Nablus region. In Duma, Israeli soldiers reportedly barred Palestinians from accessing their olive groves, and settlers have been accused of stealing olives and vandalizing trees. On October 24, 2025, 18-year-old Mohammad Ahmad Khamees Abu Hunein died from wounds sustained during an Israeli raid on the New Askar refugee camp. Since October 2023, Israeli data shows settlers staged 414 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in the first half of 2025 alone, a 30% increase from the previous year. Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers since October 2023.
Diplomatic tensions were further inflamed by remarks from Finance Minister Smotrich, who, ahead of a planned meeting between President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said, “If Saudi Arabia tells us ‘normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,’ friends — no thank you. Keep riding camels in the desert.” Smotrich later apologized for the remark, admitting on X that his statement “was definitely not successful and I regret the insult it caused.” Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli also weighed in, criticizing Smotrich’s comments and extending an invitation to Saudi friends for a camel race in the Negev, signaling a desire to maintain diplomatic bridges.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) added legal weight to the mounting criticism in July 2024, declaring Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
As the bills move through the legislative process, the stakes remain high for all parties. The outcome will not only shape the future of the West Bank but also test the resilience of international alliances, the prospects for peace, and the lived realities of those on the ground.