We are an interesting nation. More than 147 countries have recognized a non-existent “State of Palestine” in the last 40 years, yet we are upset when another five nations similarly sign on to this farce. We delay, postpone, and defer a declaration of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria for almost sixty years, yet we are upset when Donald Trump says he will now “not allow Israel to annex the 'West Bank'… It is not going to happen.” Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum - and when we don’t act, someone else does.
Yet, there is little that is more vacuous than recognition of a Palestinian Arab state, which hasn’t changed the situation on the ground an iota, and even Trump’s blustery exclamations should be put into context.
How should Israel respond, on both fronts?
In line with the columnist Salena Zito’s prescient observation almost a decade ago, one should take Trump “seriously, but not literally.” He says things, he dominates the news cycle every day, and from one day to the next, he changes his mind. He has declared a dozen times in the last half year that a “deal in Gaza”is imminent, “maybe this weekend” he says every Friday. And, from his perspective, it always is “imminent,” as it only requires Hamas’ agreement to free the hostages, lay down its weapons, and surrender. Yet, it never happens.
It is a bemusing combination of bravado, wishful thinking, and showmanship; it is not statesmanship and I genuinely doubt that Trump keeps track of the details or could recite them by heart.
Note that if Israel applies Israeli civil law to Area C, or even to most of Judea and Samaria outside of the Arab population centers, Israel has, literally, not annexed “West Bank” (just parts of it) and thus not run afoul of the Trump dictate. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Ben Gurion, it always matters less what the Gentiles say than what the Jews do, and we have been perpetually negligent in asserting our rights to our biblical patrimony and consequently engendered this diplomatic chaos.
Trump - who just a few years ago in a different iteration of his diplomatic deliberations embraced Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria - could change his mind tomorrow. He is obviously concerned about potential harm to one of his concrete achievements, the Abraham Accords. But the fact that the viability of the Accords would be threatened by annexation of parts of Judea and Samaria demonstrates that they might be more tenuous than we like to believe.
After all, PM Netanyahu is not motivated by the sanctity of the land of Israel or the inviolability of our biblical patrimony in this decision, but by Israel’s basic security needs. It is widely assumed by most Israelis, and with good reason, that a Palestinian Arab state would not end the conflict (regardless of protestations of good faith, signing ceremonies, or Nobel Peace Prize presentations) but would be used as a launching pad for another October 7th-like massacre in order to destroy Israel completely.
How does it benefit signatories to the Abraham Accords - the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, etc. - if Israel is weak and vulnerable? Undoubtedly, another massacre of Jews would generate a (brief) wave of sympathy from these nations, but would they mourn our demise, G-d forbid? Hardly.
It should be a wakeup call to all Israelis that many countries with whom we have peace treaties or are currently negotiating with to sign some sort of agreement - Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and others - all walked out on PM Netanyahu’s speech. They could not bear to hear him. (To his credit, the UAE ambassador stayed. To their shame, the self-styled mediator, Qatar, hosts of Hamas, walked out.)
If I had a choice between sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and a fragile agreement with Saudi Arabia, I would choose sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Frankly, I am tired of this hollow concern with the Arab street, how Arab leaders cannot get ahead of their people, and how even Arab despots cannot be seen as too friendly to Israel lest their people… what? Rebel? Overthrow them? Each Muslim country that is part of the Abraham Accords is ruled by a dictator, a strongman, or a monarch. They are unelected, self-appointed. They have more to fear from the lack of freedoms in their countries and their heavy-handed rule than even if they would don a knitted kippah and wear it in a mosque.
The days should be long gone when it was deemed a major concession to hear a Jewish leader speak. And enemies of Netanyahu should be reminded that walking out on Israeli leaders at the United Nations is a hoary tradition that dates back to the 1950’s. Once again, it is the soft bigotry of low expectations that purports to understand why Arab leaders can’t be expected to listen to what Israel has to say. From outright Jew haters like Iran and Turkey, it is unsurprising. But we should have little faith in the viability of Accords with leaders of countries who are presently too scared to hear what the Jew has to say.
Should Israel defy Trump? It does set a terrible precedent for Israel to acquiesce in the grandiose edict of any US president - even a friend like Trump - that he “will not allow” what is essentially a unilateral decision on Israel’s part. That hubris should be challenged or we will pay a heavy price for it in the future. In reality, all Trump can do is recognize or refuse to recognize the annexation. (Indeed, when Transjordan annexed the “West Bank” in 1950, necessitating the change of that country’s name to Jordan, only Britain and Pakistan recognized it.) Israel has been in control of all or most of Judea and Samaria for almost sixty years. For how long must its residents live in limbo?
That vacuum must be filled sooner or later, and better sooner, like today or yesterday. Jewish sovereignty over Judea and Samaria - all or most - would be the final stake in the heart of that Jewish blood-seeking and blood-sucking vampire known as “Palestinian Arab nationalism.”
There are lingering suspicions that Netanyahu encouraged Trump to oppose a declaration of sovereignty. That would be why Netanyahu said that he would have strong responses to the countries that recognize a “State of Palestine” but only after he returned from the US. But why not before he left on his journey? This would not be the first time that Netanyahu solicited American pressure in order not to do something that he did not want to do in any event. He is cautious, unpredictable, and despite the public persona of a bold and fearless visionary, he is actually often tentative in his statecraft. And equivocal.
There is the Netanyahu of thirty years ago who vowed to reverse the deleterious effects of Oslo, and then did not, and even signed the Hebron Accords. There is the Netanyahu who voted for the expulsion of Jews from Gaza until he at last voted against it. There is the Netanyahu of the Bar Ilan speech of 2009 endorsing a Palestinian state to appease Barack Obama, envisioning “two peoples [who] live freely, side-by-side, in amity and mutual respect,” and the Netanyahu of two weeks ago vowing there will never be a Palestinian state. There is the Netanyahu on whose watch Israel was invaded, our citizens massacred, defiled, and kidnapped, and the Netanyahu who has led remarkable victories on multiple fronts, transforming the Middle East (for how long is anyone’s guess). And that is not all.
In that, Netanyahu is Trump-like, residing in a world where spin sometimes matters more than substance. In Trump’s world, it is enough to say again and again that America has “the hottest economy in the world.” It doesn’t; inflation persists, unemployment is up, no one really knows how much revenue tariffs are raising or where are all the billions and trillions of dollars of investments promised from nations across the world. It is enough to say, in many American cities, that crime is down, when in fact only arrests are down, not crime. It is enough to say things, repeatedly, and then move on to something else.
Thus, if a Palestinian Arab state is an existential threat to Israel - and it is - then no European country or fair-minded Arab potentate who wants good relations with Israel should support it or recognize it. And since one way to avert it is by exercising sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu (and Trump) can spin it in a way in which sovereignty is declared, Jewish rights and interests are advanced, the Arab world is mollified, Americans (Jews and Gentiles) who support the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria are gratified, and Trump can move on to settling the war in Ukraine, which, we have learned, was not resolved on the first day of his administration.
Will PM Netanyahu have the courage of his convictions to declare sovereignty? We shall see, but do not be surprised if this can is again kicked down the road to be used as a campaign promise in next year’s election.
What can be done in response to those Western countries recognizing a Palestinian Arab state? A proud country could call in the ambassadors of those countries to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem for a tongue-lashing. Some of those countries - like Britain, France, Belgium, and others like Turkey - maintain consulates in Jerusalem that for years have functioned (due to Israeli fecklessness) as embassies to “Palestine.” Those consulates should be closed forthwith, the diplomats accredited to the PA should be barred from Israel and sent to live in Ramallah, the special parking privileges, and VAT exemptions their diplomats enjoy in Jerusalem should be revoked, and whoever protests should be expelled as persona non grata.
That's if we take it seriously.
Let’s face it. The notion of Britain and France as world powers is nostalgia, certainly in France’s case, the French having not won a war in over a century and not distinguishing itself in the century before that. That both continue to serve on the UN Security Council - while real powers with economic, political, and military muscle like India and Germany, even Japan, are excluded - is an anachronism. Most of Europe is in decline, being overrun by radical Muslims, and intimidated by the Islamist terror that visited London, Paris, Nice, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid, and other cities.
Their appeals to morality and their concern for Palestinian Arab lives are unconvincing. They are frightened and have been intimidated by their growing Muslim population to turn on Israel. And given these countries’ wretched history with the Jewish people from medieval times through the Holocaust, they did not need much prompting.
Trump’s musings, Netanyahu’s hesitations, and Europe’s perfidies are all ephemeral. What is permanent and enduring? The words of our prophets that have been realized in our time, such as those of Jeremiah (31:4) who proclaimed in one of the direst times in Jewish history, “you shall again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy it.” And (31:7), “I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth.” And (31:10), “for G-d has rescued Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than him.”
That is real. We can either choose to defer and let others dictate our future, or as people of faith, take our destiny in our own hands. If the nations of world are determined that their path to survival is through a "Palestine" that will temporarily pacify their mobs, then we can either acquiesce now and passively observe our decline or stand firm against the mobs and be witnesses and midwives to the redemption of Israel. The choice is ours.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky is a rabbi and attorney who lives in Israel and serves as Senior Research Associate at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy and as Israel Region Vice President of the Coalition for Jewish Values. He is the author of six books, including “Repentance for Life” (Kodesh Press).