True, it was a campaign promise. True, Netanyahu has had 10 years to act on that promise. True, as of now they are just words.
Yet still, the fact that the prime minister of Israel issued the historical declaration about intending to make the Jordan Valley an inseparable part of Israel, is a very important step. Because no one before him did it and Netanyahu himself also rejected such ideas outright just a few years ago.
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But the reasons and circumstances have changed. The diplomatic process spearheaded by former US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014 failed. Consequently, Netanyahu stopped seeking direct talks with the Palestinians, opting instead for rapprochement with the Arab world. The White House is occupied by a president who can implement bold, pro-Israel initiatives, as we've already seen. This is a window of opportunity.
Thus, even if this is merely an election "spin" for the purpose of winning votes, presenting the vision of sovereignty in general, in the Jordan Valley in particular, is a shift in the right direction. It is a long-term Israeli interest.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak left us with the Camp David blueprint, which included a 95% withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and dividing Jerusalem. This horrendous legacy served as a starting point for every subsequent negotiation. Netanyahu, too, in his Bar-Ilan speech at the outset of his premiership in 2009, committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Now, however, regardless of the reasons and circumstances, Netanyahu is terminating the prospect of such a state and committing to permanent eastern borders that will include the Jordan Valley, "in the broadest sense of the term." And thus, even if they are just words, he is taking our future into our own hands and maximizing the Trump presidency.
Incidentally, the phrase Jordan Valley "in the broadest meaning of that term" was first coined by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a month before his murder. This wasn't simply Netanyahu shooting from the hip. Anyone listening to him in recent years knows this was always his vision. It's not for nothing that he visited Judea and Samaria, including Hebron, over this time.
Therefore, Netanyahu's envisioned map, declaration, and intentions are exceedingly appropriate. Yet he must make sure these ideas take hold in reality. To be sure, in the world of actions the prime minister has been struggling to bring his promises to fruition. The matter of the illegal Bedouin outpost Khan al-Ahmar, as we know, remains unresolved. The "outpost team" he created to regularize the status of thousands of settlement homes has been working for three years with tied hands. In Jerusalem, the demographic balance is getting worse. And of course, the humiliating image of being whisked off stage on Tuesday amid a rocket attack from Gaza also crystallizes the gap between actions and words.
Netanyahu has dedicated a considerable portion of his public life to fighting against the Palestinian national movement, and for the right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. In his next term, which could be his last, he needs to translate these rights into steps on the ground and close the gap between words and deeds.
