Knesset Member Amit Halevi views Trump’s return to the White House as a historic opportunity for applying sovereignty. However, this will be contingent on several essential steps that should have been taken long ago.
The chance of promoting sovereignty in Judea and Samaria during the joint tenure of Trump and Netanyahu seems very realistic to Knesset Member Amit Halevi (Likud), “as part of a broad array of possibilities that this historical period offers us,” he says in an interview with “Sovereignty.”
MK Halevi emphasizes that in his view, the most important clause of the “Deal of the Century” – which did not develop into a finalized agreement – is the clause that asserts, by an American president for the first time since the San Remo Conference and the Balfour Declaration, that the national rights to the Land of Israel belong to the Jewish people. “Although, there were terrible ideas in that plan, such as, agreement to establishment of a Palestinian state, which I do not think anyone would consider after the events of October 7th, but this principle is significant in the context of sovereignty. The recognition that the Land of Israel belongs solely to the Jewish people is the basis of sovereignty, even if there are other individuals residing there.”
Halevi sees this principle as the foundation upon which a distinction can be made between the status of the territory and the status of the residents.
The starting point, which he claims is accepted by Trump and his team, is that the land was and will continue to belong to the Jewish people, “whether in Gaza, Beit El, Jerusalem, Gamla or Tel Aviv,” and this can and should serve as a point for launching sovereignty, after which the question of regularizing the status of minorities in this state will be discussed.
Sovereignty depends on what is done here in Israel. The administration in Washington will provide backing.
MK Halevi emphasizes that the challenge of sovereignty awaits backing from the Trump administration, but it is “primarily our responsibility, and depends on what we do in Israel, in the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, to advance the objective of sovereignty. The plans and discussions with the people appointed by President Trump should have begun even before Trump entered the White House. I would expect to hear this content and this basic position from Israeli representatives regarding national rights that belong only to us, and that, as a result, political sovereignty belongs exclusively to the Jewish people. This should be stated without hesitation and without apology. This should have been the Israeli statement in response to the Hague Court. These are the territories of our homeland, and historical and biblical justice is on our side. These are not occupied territories. We did not conquer the territory from other peoples.”
In his opinion, the fact that the map of the United States is dotted with cities and communities with biblical connections like Bethel, Shiloh, and others, constitutes a significant cognitive infrastructure for realizing the potential of sovereignty, especially within the Republican Party. “Therefore, this position should be sounded as a fundamental position of the Israeli government, and beyond that, I also expect practical steps, with detailed plans and maps already prepared to promote a sovereignty plan, even if it is in stages. For this, we need to expand the sovereignty maps from the previous round. We have learned the lessons of the events of October 7th, and among our most fundamental lessons must be the overwhelming need to apply sovereignty as the banner of justice borne by Israel. Without internalizing that justice is on our side, the UN Secretary-General can appear after such a horrifying massacre and murder and speak of an equivalent conflict between two parties.”
“In addition, we have also come to the understanding that this is the heart of the struggle with the enemy. This enemy is not fighting because of a territorial conflict to obtain land for a people who were here in the past. It seeks to take control of the land as part of a vision of taking over the entire world without recognizing the rights of any people to any territory. Therefore, we have a significant lever in the international arena to promote our rights and claims to this land, upon which we can add our strategic and security needs in this territory. But the main contention is the biblical and moral foundation, the incontrovertible connection based on our biblical right. These must be the official positions of the Israeli government. We have friends in the world who think likewise and we can work with them. In the current Congress, they have significant influence, and I expect our diplomats to work in this spirit and with this consciousness and establish the lobby in favor of sovereignty.”
To Be Both Just and Smart
With all the understanding that historical, moral, and value-based justice are on Israel’s side, perhaps the practical challenges involved in sovereignty require us to be smarter and less just? Perhaps it is not certain that it is wise for us to control the terrorist hornet’s nest spread throughout Judea and Samaria?
The question of justice and wisdom, says MK Halevi, is tied to the question of the status of the residents, and this question should be addressed after it is clear that there is no doubt regarding the territory’s status. “There is no other legal owner other than the Jewish people. The Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Jewish people and its nation-state. Any change in the territory’s status bolsters the false Palestinian illusion that they might be able to build a state for an imaginary people that will achieve the coveted goal of destroying Israel in a jihad war.”
Regarding the status of the residents, MK Halevi agrees that we must act wisely, and in his view, the maximum Israel can allow is municipal management of local authorities, “a model that succeeded after the Six-Day War and can be restored. Communities will be managed locally, not nationally. When creating a centralized authority like the Palestinian Authority, you create an authority that cultivates the Palestinian national lie, that contains nothing except for the destruction of Israel, and this is why that authority engages in terrorism or corruption.”
“True, it’s not perfect, and some will say not all our rights exist. But from conversations I have conducted with residents in Hebron and Ramallah, the feeling is that they would be happy to move from the murderous and corrupt militias of Abu Mazen to Israeli rule. Rights are trampled there day and night. Even if it is not perfect, that move will provide an arrangement that will improve the lives of the individuals.”
The interview was first published in Issue 18 of the Sovereignty Journal. Click here for the issue.