While many leaders on the Israeli right hailed the election of Donald Trump as the beginning of a new era for Jewish rights in Judea and Samaria, Land of Israel activist and Knesset candidate for the Otzma Yehudit party Baruch Marzel says the changing of the guard in Washington will likely have little impact on policy in Israel.
Speaking with Arutz Sheva ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, Marzel said Israeli policy in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem is and has always been decided by the Israeli Prime Minister, arguing that foreign pressure has only been a convenient excuse.
"Two hours after Trump was elected as the President of the United States I wrote an article that now all the excuses are irrelevant, and we'll all learn that the problem wasn't Obama, Carter, Bush or anyone else, the problem was always our Prime Minister,” Marzel told Arutz Sheva.
“Today it is Netanyahu, who is a weak man and a weak Prime Minister,” Marzel continued, arguing the makeup of the Israeli government is conducive to policies favoring expanded construction in and even annexation of Judea and Samaria.
“I think that there is a big opportunity because in Israel the coalition is... a pretty good coalition. But Netanyahu should stop being afraid and start doing what he should do, what he promised to do. And today he could build, he could annex. And instead of that, I think most of the meeting with President Trump will be Netanyahu explaining to him, persuading him to support the two-state solution that Trump never supported, to support not building in Judea and Samaria - and if any building is to take place, only in places concerning which there is consensus, and not to build in Jerusalem as much as he should. And this weakness will make Trump, who is strong, weak."
The time for excuses is over. Today everyone will see who the problem was: Netanyahu."