US Secretary of State Blinken warns Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu against settlements, annexation

Blinken vowed to oppose Israeli settlements or annexation in the West Bank, but promised to judge Netanyahu’s incoming government by actions and not personalities

Attempts by Israel to seize the West Bank could go against promises Netanyahu made in 2020 to UAE, the first Arab state in decades to recognise Israel

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the J Street National Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington on Sunday. Photo: AP

Published: 9:09am, 5 Dec 2022Updated: 2:57pm, 5 Dec 2022

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed on Sunday to oppose Israeli settlements or annexation in the West Bank, but promised to judge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming government by actions and not personalities.

Netanyahu is expected within days to return to power after sealing a coalition deal with extreme-right movements including Religious Zionism, which is set for a post in charge of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking to J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel US advocacy group, Blinken offered congratulations to the veteran Israeli leader, who has clashed with previous Democratic administrations in Washington.

“We will gauge the government by the policies it pursues rather than individual personalities,” Blinken said.

But he said President Joe Biden’s administration would work “relentlessly” to preserve a “horizon of hope,” however dim, for the creation of a Palestinian state.