TEL AVIV – Vice President JD Vance, wrapping up a whirlwind tour to bolster the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, lashed out at a recent vote in Israel's parliament to annex the West Bank.
''That was weird," he said. "It was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank will not be annexed by Israel."
Annexing the occupied West Bank – a Palestinian territory that has long been envisioned as a site of a future Palestinian state – would enflame allies at a time that President Donald Trump is seeking to cement an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Vance said he was assured the 25-24 vote in the Israeli Knesset was purely symbolic.During Vance's trip, the Knesset voted to grant preliminary approval to a bill that would annex the West Bank and place the Palestinian territory under Israeli sovereignty. A second bill also advanced would specifically annex a controversial new West Bank settlement designed to cut the Palestinian territory in two and complicate future Palestinian statehood. The legislature will need to pass the bills three more times before they can become law.
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The West Bank has been contentious for a variety of reasons, in part because of biblical ties to the region. In the past, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has referred to it by the biblical names Judea and Samaria. As ambassador, though, he has spoken out about what he has called terrorism against Palestinians in the West Bank.
