U.S. President Donald Trump issued his sharpest rebuke yet to Israel over its plans to annex the occupied West Bank, warning that such a move would “end all American support” for the country, even as his administration tried to hold together a fragile cease-fire in Gaza.
The remarks, published Thursday by Time magazine, stemmed from an Oct. 15 interview held days after the U.S.-brokered Gaza truce took effect. Trump, who has made Middle East stability a central piece of his foreign policy, was unequivocal.
“It won’t happen,” he said when asked about Israeli calls to annex the Palestinian West Bank, occupied since 1967. “It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
His warning came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance both visited Israel this week amid political upheaval in Jerusalem and renewed violence in the West Bank.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to U.S. military personnel as he visits the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, Oct. 24, 2025. (AFP Photo)
