Vance says Trump policy rejects Israeli annexation of West Bank

US Vice-President JD Vance on Thursday said President Donald Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and that it would not happen, suggesting a move by Israeli lawmakers toward that end looked like a stupid “political stunt”.

A Bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.

When asked by mediapersons about the vote, Vance said: “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it.” He spoke after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that moves toward annexing the territory that Palestinians sought for part of an independent state could endanger Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, which had yielded a shaky ceasefire so far. “The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy,” Vance said during a trip to Israel to help shore up the Gaza truce.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said after Vance’s remarks that the government had not decided to bring the vote on annexation forward at this stage in order to ensure the success of Trump’s multi-stage Gaza plan. The US has long been Israel’s most powerful and staunch major power ally and the Trump administration is particularly close to Israel with considerable sway over its leadership.

Senior US officials, including Rubio, have been visiting Israel seeking to keep alive the brittle ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas after two years of devastating war that has upended the West Asia. Vance said he felt good about the Gaza ceasefire after having talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.