JD Vance Warns Israel After ‘Very Stupid’ Vote on Annexing West Bank
(Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance warned Israel’s government that the Trump administration was against any annexation of the West Bank on Thursday, slamming a preliminary Knesset vote on the matter, calling it “very stupid” as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the country.
Israel’s parliament on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would extend Israeli law to the occupied West Bank in a step widely viewed as de facto annexation of territory.
The vote came less than a week after President Donald Trump brokered a deal intended to end Israel’s two-year military offensive in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday as he departed, Vance said the vote was “weird” and left him “sort of confused.”
He added that while he was told it was a “political stunt” and “purely symbolic,” it was still “a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it.”
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance told reporters, according to The Times of Israel. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy, and if people want to take symbolic votes they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.”
Turning to the ceasefire in Gaza, Vance said both sides were currently adhering to it: “There are little exceptions that break out here and there. That would be expected when these parties have been at war for two years. But so far, the ceasefire is actually holding, the peace is actually holding and now we’re trying to figure out how to make it stick over the long term.”
Vance noted that the new International Security Force “is now going to take the lead in disarming Hamas,” and that Washington’s ongoing coordination involves “the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, and other folks who are going to be involved in this in one form or another.”
“Our message is do whatever you can do to work with us to make this peace stick,” Vance said.
