Israel draws new map

(MENAFN) Israel's parliament has passed a symbolic resolution calling for the swift extension of Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley, a move critics say amounts to a de facto redrawing of the map — without an official announcement.

The non-binding motion passed with a wide margin, 71 votes in favor to 13 against, with strong support from right-wing and center-right parties, including Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, and Yisrael Beiteinu.

The resolution argues that the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack — often labeled the “Simchat Torah Massacre” in Israeli politics — demonstrates that establishing a Palestinian state would be a serious threat to Israel’s survival.

“The Knesset declares that the State of Israel has the natural, historical, and legal right to all parts of the Land of Israel,” the text states. It calls on the Israeli government to move quickly to impose sovereignty over all Jewish communities in what Israel refers to as Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Jordan Valley.

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