UN, EU, Jordan Intensify Opposition to Smotrich Khan al-Ahmar Demolition Order

The UN, European Union, and Jordan intensified diplomatic opposition on May 25, 2026 to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's May 19 order to proceed with the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, the Bedouin Palestinian village east of Jerusalem in the West Bank's E1 corridor. UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov stated that demolishing Khan al-Ahmar at this moment — given Smotrich's public acknowledgment that the ICC had sought his arrest — would constitute 'a defiant war crime and an unambiguous escalation that will have irreversible consequences for the two-state solution.' The village's approximately 180 Bedouin residents, who were displaced from the Negev in 1951 and settled in the West Bank, have been under demolition threat since the Israeli Supreme Court authorized it in 2018, though multiple governments have deferred implementation under international pressure. Smotrich had framed the demolition announcement as a direct response to ICC action against him, stating 'the land of Israel will be built as they seek to put me in a cage.' EU High Representative Kaja Kallas warned that demolition of Khan al-Ahmar would trigger immediate EU diplomatic consequences and would further accelerate EU member states' compliance preparations for ICC warrant obligations. Jordan's Foreign Minister called it a 'flagrant violation' of Security Council Resolution 2334.