https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/world/middleeast/trump-israel-west-bank-annexation.html 

 

This story is a few days old but relevant for the future of the region

Israel's Knesset  voted "  symbolically "  in a razor thing majority to annex parts of  the West Bank but the US rejected this firmly and vociferously

 

Netanyahu and Likud also voted against it because this would have undermined the US peace plan that Trump is responsible  for and Netanyahu doesn't want to upset or alienate Trump

Its another example of the influence the US has over Israel

 

"The next steps in shaping a peaceful, postwar Gaza remain vague, but the Trump administration has made one thing clear. Any Israeli attempt to annex parts of the occupied West Bank will not be tolerated. President Trump drove the point home in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday.

“It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries,” he said of West Bank annexation. “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

The day before the interview came out, the Israeli Knesset, or Parliament, passed two largely symbolic votes in favor of annexing land in the West Bank, a territory that much of the world envisions as the core of a future Palestinian state. The United States is Israel’s most important ally and the preliminary votes clearly raised the hackles of the Trump administration, which has worked hard to keep its Arab partners to the Gaza deal on board.

Vice President JD Vance, who was wrapping up a two-day visit to Israel on Thursday, vented his anger at the vote. He said someone had told him that this was a symbolic political stunt with no practical significance. “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it,” he said. “The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.

The Wednesday votes took place on the same day he arrived in the country. The messages left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to distance himself on Thursday from the votes that angered the U.S. administration. “The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel,” he said in a statement issued in English. " 

Pretty good example that unconditional support results in no influence, really. After all for all the supposed influence and goodwill and backing Israel to the hilt the Israeli's voted against the US position, not for it. 

Anyway, time for a related summary. So far Israel has

(1) not opened the border crossings it was required to

(2) not allowed in the aid it was required to

(3) not set the 'yellow line' where anyone else thinks it ought to be. Indeed, it hasn't set its version of the yellow line where it claims it ought to be itself on its military's own website, but well inside what should be Palestinian territory. Resulting in

(4) continuing low level attacks on Palestinian civilians, continuing starvation and malnutrition but most importantly political leaders and media can at least now pretend it isn't happening.

10 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Pretty good example that unconditional support results in no influence, really. After all for all the supposed influence and goodwill and backing Israel to the hilt the Israeli's voted against the US position, not for it. 

 

Yes but the  US influence is clear which is why Netanyahu and Likud voted against this motion. But the US cant stop these types of bills being presented and then the Knesset votes like any other similar parliament 

If it wasnt for the USA Netanyahu would have voted to support it and this motion was raised by other far right parties 

Its basically dead in the water and it wont get advanced despite it  being passed 

But this development for me is more about the factions in the Israeli right-wing coalition and differences in opinions and what Israel should be doing

And most of the far-right  parties dont seem to understand how they need to align with what the US\Trump wants to achieve around a lasting peace or they will lose much US support 

Here is a more detailed article around this 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-election-nears-annexation-fiasco-shows-netanyahu-losing-control-of-his-coalition/

 

 

 

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/17/middleeast/us-gaza-israel-un-vote-intl-latam

The US resolution around Trumps peace plan passed at the UNSC with 13 yes votes and 2 abstentions from China and Russia

But no vetoes because no one has any alternative plan or wants to spend the time trying to create one 

Now the hard part. Muslim and Arab countries must provide the boots on the ground in Gaza  to ensure Hamas isnt active but  most important it contains a reference to Palestinian statehood which Israel wanted removed and they failed to achieve

" Notably, the resolution also contains a reference to Palestinian statehood, but it provides no timeline for it.

“After the (Palestinian Authority) reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” the draft said.

“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence,” it said."

 

 

 

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2026-01-29/ty-article/.premium/idf-accepts-gaza-health-ministry-estimate-of-over-70-000-palestinians-killed-in-the-war/0000019c-0918-dec4-adfd-fd5dde830000

"The IDF has accepted the estimate of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry that approximately 71,000 Palestinians were killed during the Israel-Gaza war, noting that the number does not include missing residents who are potentially buried under rubble."

Although I'm sure 80% will be combatants or "fighting age males" which will assuage anxieties on Blue Team.

They certainly don't feel much guilt for throwing all those brave hasbara fighters insisting that every dead palestinian was hamas and that the casualty figures were fraudulent for two years under the bus.

And yes, already seen claims that the vast majority of the missing will be hamas fighters in tunnels, not civilians in collapsed buildings/ shelters/ bulldozed into mass graves.

censoring seem to get much worse on ytube and twitch

obviously tiktok are gone completely

wonder how long any usa based company can keep going