With a majority of one vote, the Knesset on Wednesday, October 23, approved, in a preliminary reading, a bill proposed by racist and homophobe Noam Party Chairman MK Avi Maoz to apply Israeli sovereignty over Palestinian occupied West Bank.

Settlers attack Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest in the village of Idhna, West of Hebron at the occupied West Bank, under the protection of Israeli colonial forces, who expelled Palestinians from their lands, confiscated farming equipment, and arrested a photojournalist, October 12, 2025 (Photo: Mosab Shawer /Activestills)

25 Knesset members voted for the bill and 24 voted against. Knesset members from the Likud either abstained or were absent from the vote, and the only party member to vote yes, despite a directive from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was MK Yuli Edelstein. MKs Yitzchak Goldknopf, Yisrael Eichler, and Yaakov Tesler from United Torah Judaism also voted in favor of the bill. The Blue and White and Shas parties, like the Likud, were absent from the plenum during the vote. The bill was supported by the coalition’s far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties, while the opposition United Torah Judaism party — which was until recently in the coalition — was split down the middle.

Before the vote, MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) spoke at the plenum: “Even your admired leader, Trump, suddenly opposes annexation. There is no Riviera, no bonanza – there is a reality in which more than 150 countries recognize Palestine.”

A more limited annexation bill, sponsored by far-right Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman of the opposition, also passed earlier, by a vote of 32-9, in a preliminary reading. Nine lawmakers from Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am factions opposed the bill Liberman’s bill calls to apply sovereignty to the occupied West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim near Jerusalem, which the far-right government is actively working to expand.

Both Zionist opposition leader MK Yair Lapid and Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz voted in favor of Liberman’s bill, drawing criticism from the Peace Now movement, which accused them of “going against the wishes of their voters and launching which also jeopardizes the fragile ceasefire.”

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32949