We are now three weeks past the July 1 deadline that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set for beginning the implementation of Israel’s annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of Judea and Samaria. For over a month Netanyahu talked up the move, and the fact that it is backed by US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century.”

But it now seems more time will be needed, possibly until September, though Netanyahu is certainly taking into account the upcoming US presidential election in November.

David Brodett, a former director general of the Israel Ministry of Finance, recently assessed the potential impact of several annexation scenarios on the Israeli economy. He assessed that a full annexation of the territories in question would cost Israel 52 billion shekels (about $15 billion) annually.

A recent study published by researchers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, the former Soviet Union) argues that if Israel gradually annexes the entire West Bank, including 2.6 million Palestinians currently living under Palestinian Authority rule, this would cost the government and additional 67 billion shekels annually for...