Comment from UAE Casts Doubt on Netanyahu’s Vow to Right-Wing Support Base

The semantics game that has been going on since the announcement of the Israel-UAE peace agreement concerning the future of annexation took a turn against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday when a Gulf-based news source reported that the deal was made possible by assurances from both Israel and the United States that it wouldn’t happen. Netanyahu had promised that the Jordan Valley and Israeli West Bank settlements, on land conquered by Israel in the 1967 war, would be formally annexed, meaning unambiguous sovereignty and the application of Israeli civil law. Contrary to assurances by Israeli officials and political leaders on the right, an official in the UAE Foreign Ministry said halting annexation was a prerequisite to the deal.