The West Bank has become a focal point in Israel's election debate, with far-right figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocating for aggressive policies, including dismantling the Palestinian Authority and annexing territories. These remarks are condemned by the Palestinian Authority as a call for war and potential war crimes, amplified by the ongoing realities of intensified military operations, settler violence, and systemic land confiscation. Internationally, the UN has added companies involved with settlements to its database, leading to diplomatic friction as countries like the Netherlands face Israeli retaliation for implementing trade bans on settlement goods, while US senators are pushing for sanctions on projects that would further fragment the West Bank.

The West Bank has become a focal point in Israel's election debate, with far-right figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocating for aggressive policies, including dismantling the Palestinian Authority and annexing territories. These remarks are condemned by the Palestinian Authority as a call for war and potential war crimes, amplified by the ongoing realities of intensified military operations, settler violence, and systemic land confiscation. Internationally, the UN has added companies involved with settlements to its database, leading to diplomatic friction as countries like the Netherlands face Israeli retaliation for implementing trade bans on settlement goods, while US senators are pushing for sanctions on projects that would further fragment the West Bank.

The West Bank has become a focal point in Israel's election debate, with far-right figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocating for aggressive policies, including dismantling the Palestinian Authority and annexing territories. These remarks are condemned by the Palestinian Authority as a call for war and potential war crimes, amplified by the ongoing realities of intensified military operations, settler violence, and systemic land confiscation. Internationally, the UN has added companies involved with settlements to its database, leading to diplomatic friction as countries like the Netherlands face Israeli retaliation for implementing trade bans on settlement goods, while US senators are pushing for sanctions on projects that would further fragment the West Bank.

The West Bank has moved to the centre of Israel's election debate, and the language from the Israeli far right is getting shriller. Speaking on a Ynet podcast ahead of the October 27 general election, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves in the defence ministry, said the military should "go to war in Judea and Samaria", run operations similar to those in Gaza and "dismantle the Palestinian Authority", which he called a "terror authority".

He also asked for the removal of Palestinian "terror infrastructure", weapons and tunnels, and spoke of annexing Gaza up to the Yellow Line and southern Lebanon up to the Litani River. Human rights experts and political analysts caution that the remarks reflect state policy and not merely campaign rhetoric, a reading that gains weight from the offices Smotrich holds.

The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry condemned the statements as a call for war, annexation and forced displacement aimed at extinguishing the prospect of an independent state. It said international silence emboldens Israeli aggression and that peace requires an end to the occupation and a sovereign state on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. Critics went further, describing the remarks as a public declaration of intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The situation on the ground has been worsening for some time. Military counterterror operations have intensified, settler attacks are near daily and land confiscation is systemic. Refugee camps have been cleared and destroyed, leaving residents displaced. Settlement expansion has reached unprecedented levels under Smotrich, with the cabinet approving 13 settlements in July, all regarded as illegal under international law, along with thousands of housing units near Jerusalem. His financial measures have also squeezed the PA banking system and pushed its administration towards collapse.

The world seems to have taken note. The UN Human Rights Office, led by Volker Türk, added 61 companies to its database of businesses linked to the settlements, bringing the total to 214 across 11 countries, most of them Israeli. The new entries include Tnuva, Netafim, Taavura, Africa Israel, Aroma Espresso Bar, Burgeranch, Café Joe and Carmel Winery, while Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and Motorola remain listed. The report names ten categories of concern, among them construction equipment, surveillance tools, demolition machinery and the exploitation of natural resources. Israel "categorically rejected" the update, calling it a "distorted mechanism" and a political smear against businesses that have done nothing wrong.

After the Netherlands banned settlement imports and related services, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar revoked the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats in Ramallah, ordering them to return their Israeli-issued documents within seven days and to work only from Palestinian Authority territory. Dutch and British representatives were also removed from the Gaza International Support Center in Kiryat Gat, with a warning that countries acting unilaterally against Israel will lose regional influence.

The Dutch measure matters because of geography. The Netherlands processes roughly a third of agricultural exports from the settlements and nearly half of those entering the European Union. The United Kingdom, France and Canada have also adopted trade bans and sanctions, and British minister Ed Miliband condemned "settler terrorists" carrying out "ethnic cleansing".

Meanwhile in Washington, 19 Democratic senators, led by Chris Coons, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Ruben Gallego, have introduced legislation seeking Treasury sanctions on those facilitating the E1 plan. The project, with tenders for 1,200 housing units, would link Ma'ale Adumim to East Jerusalem and split the West Bank in two. The Trump administration has restated its general opposition to annexation but has not addressed E1 directly.

The wider map explains the concern. Israel controls more than 60 per cent of Gaza east of the Yellow Line under the hostage-ceasefire agreement and occupies up to 600 square kilometres of southern Lebanon as far as the Litani. Far-right officials openly favour turning these buffer zones into permanent holdings.

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