Israeli hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank should the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declare Israeli settlements illegal.

“I hereby call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: If the International Court of Justice in The Hague does decide that the settlement enterprise is illegal – respond to them with a historic decision of applying sovereignty to the territories of the homeland,” Smotrich said. 
The ICJ is set to deliver an advisory, non-binding opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian territories” on July 19. While Israel has ignored such opinions in the past, the ICJ ruling could add political pressure over the nine-month-old war of genocide against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.