Friday, May 1, 2020

Important Reminder: Sovereignty is Not Annexation: Vive la Différence! - by Varda Meyers Epstein

There really is a difference between exercising sovereignty and annexation, and I say vive la différence.

Varda Meyers Epstein..
Judean Rose/Elder of Ziyon..
29 April '20..

Sovereignty is not the same thing as annexation. Prime Minister Netanyahu knows this, which is why he is always careful to speak of exercising Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and in the Jordan Valley. The media never seems to see this as a serious distinction, and often cites Netanyahu as speaking of “annexation,” as in this April 26, 2020 Jerusalem Post piece, “Netanyahu: I’m confident annexation will happen in a couple of months.”

In fact, Netanyahu never did say that, which the body of the same article makes clear. “Three months ago, the Trump peace plan recognized Israel’s rights in all of Judea and Samaria,” the article quotes Netanyahu as saying. “President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley. In a couple of months from now, I’m confident that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism.”

You don’t see the words “annex” or “annexation” in the above quote. You don’t see them there, because to speak of annexation would be to suggest that Israel is taking land that belongs to others and adding it to the State of Israel. Instead, the prime minister says clear as day, Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley are Israel’s lawful territories. They already belong to Israel, are part of Israel. And the U.S., under President Donald J. Trump has pledged to recognize this fact.

The difference between sovereignty and annexation is not just a question of semantics, but of two quite different actions. Writers that insist on using the “a” word strengthen the trope that Israel is an occupier of someone else’s land, that we acquired the land through aggression. And that’s not fair. Or unbiased.

It’s propaganda. It tells the world that Israel is a thief. Which is not the case.

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