, Still trying to make political gains on President Trump’s endorsement of the Golan Heights annexation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hinting that Trump’s extra-legal decree could have broad ramifications across the occupied territories.



Netanyahu claimed Trump’s move “proves” that Israel is able to hold occupied territories permanently, telling reporters that anything that is occupied “in a defensive war, then it’s ours.”



That the 1967 War actually saw Israel attack several countries and seize territory from them is beside the point, as Netanyahu and a generation of politicians have engaged in enough historical revisionism to sell at least a modicum of the far right on the idea that the attack was a “preemptive war.” The war not only saw the capture of Golan Heights from Syria, but also of the West Bank from Jordan.



Netanyahu’s new “it’s ours” mantra is clearly meant to sent the message to Israeli voters that the annexation of the West Bank, too, could be in the offing. Annexing the West Bank would have been unthinkable before Trump’s Golan move, as it would be seen as a formal and irrevocable disavowal of peace with the Palestinians. Netanyahu may, however, believe that Trump will go for it, and his far-right constituents also certainly will go for it. Whether he intends to actually attempt to do so before the election or not, Netanyahu has made the West Bank annexation a political issue.

Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz