Overview

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the UN on Friday and, according to media reports, plans to delay a final decision until after a Monday meeting with Trump.
• Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other hardline coalition partners are pressing for sweeping territorial moves, with Smotrich saying Israel seeks to annex 82% of the West Bank.
• The United Arab Emirates issued a strong warning that annexation would wreck prospects for regional peace and betray the spirit of the Abraham Accords.
• Several Western governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and France, have recently recognized a Palestinian state, adding to Israel’s diplomatic headwinds.
• Netanyahu previously shelved annexation during the 2020 rapprochement with the UAE, while settlement expansion continues in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, home to more than 700,000 Israeli settlers alongside roughly three million Palestinians.