Trump is finally absolutely right about something in the Middle East
The president knows it would be a disaster for Israel to annex the West Bank. Good.
President Donald Trump in the White House on Sept. 25. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Columnist Dan Perry September 26, 2025
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Like a broken clock that is right twice a day, President Donald Trump appears to have figured out that Israel may move to annex parts of the West Bank, and that this would be a very bad idea.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “There’s been enough, it’s time to stop now.”
Trump reportedly also told Arab and Muslim-majority leaders at the United Nations General Assembly that he would pressure Israel not to pursue annexation. Meanwhile, Israel’s reckless government is weighing its response to the past week’s decisions by the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Canada, and Australia to recognize a Palestinian state. The discourse is focusing on annexing (possibly large) parts of the West Bank, which would be the heartland of any such state.
What these foolish Israeli right-wingers miss — and have for decades missed — is that the West Bank is a poisoned chalice for Israel. Giving up most of that territory is not a favor to Arabs, but essential for Israel’s survival.
Many of Israel’s friends and supporters around the world are desperately confused on this point. They genuinely believe that to stand strong with Israel, one must support such moves, and the Jewish settlement movement in general. That position is fatally misguided.
For starters, it is clear that even a partial implementation of this plan — certainly against the background of the cataclysmic war in Gaza — would pit Israel against almost the entire world community, threatening the Abraham Accords with Arab nations and provoking a cascade of economic and diplomatic reprisals.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing allies argue that Israel must project strength and determination to make the world understand that the new acknowledgements of a Palestinian state are not relevant on the ground, and are indeed recognizing something that’s fictitious. Toward that end, Israel’s firebrand finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich — who has also publicly fantasized about the real estate “bonanza” that awaits in a post-Palestinian Gaza — has drawn up a map proposing West Bank areas to be annexed. The mathematically inclined will quickly see that about 80% is to be annexed; anyone with knowledge of history will be reminded of South Africa’s Bantustans, non-contiguous, encircled and basically meaningless islands of “self-rule.”
This is a way of annexing the territory without formally annexing the people. As with the Bantustans, no one will be fooled.
Smotrich’s proposal would be opposed by those Israelis who still seek a deal that might separate them from the Palestinians, as opposed to the permanent unhappy marriage that the right wing has in mind. The anger this would cause would compound that which is already percolating through the system because so many people — a majority by most polls — believe Netanyahu is continuing the Gaza war for political purposes, aspiring to preserve his coalition and gain a few more months in power.
It would also be opposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and the European Union — with consequences that could devastate Israel economically and culturally. Already there is talk of Israel being expelled from European sports leagues and — in a true potential blow to the Israeli psyche — the campy-yet-iconic Eurovision Song Festival.
And there is a deeper issue. Ever since Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt in 1967, the Israeli right has wanted to reunify the three territories, which constitute the Holy Land and a version of biblical Israel, into one Jewish state. The problem with that is that half the region’s population of 15 million is Arab.
This is so obviously a disaster for Israel, forcing a choice between being a Jewish state and a democratic one, that you might ask yourself how the Israeli right can be so stupid.
While there are no good arguments for annexation, there is, of course, a real security argument against withdrawal from the West Bank. It is a very proximate strategic high-ground which could endanger Israel militarily. That is why it may not be possible for Israel to pull out of all of the territory.
That is why a theoretical state of Palestine simply must be demilitarized. And that is why Hamas — which is committed ideologically and religiously to Israel’s destruction — must preferably vanish, and definitely disarm.
Meanwhile, the most significant barrier to any reckless moves by the Netanyahu cabal is the United States. If Trump really wants to help Israel — and I personally have some doubts about whether he really cares — then he must force Netanyahu to end the war and give up on the annexation foolishness. If Netanyahu does, his coalition may well indeed collapse — and that would be a wonderful thing for the prospects of the Zionist project to continue to thrive and survive.
