Vice President J.D. Vance slammed a preliminary vote by the Israeli Parliament that approved the annexation of the West Bank as a “stupid political stunt.”
Mr. Vance has been in Israel this week to see how President Trump’s peace plan between Israel and Hamas is holding up.
The Israeli Parliament, or Knesset, passed a symbolic preliminary vote on Wednesday in support of annexing the West Bank.
The vice president said he asked about the “weird” vote and asked someone about it, who told him it was just a political stunt.
“If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it,” Mr. Vance said at the airport before departing Israel on Thursday. “The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
He said he and the administration “certainly weren’t happy about it.”
The Knesset vote narrowly passed, but with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disapproval, the bill is unlikely to become law.
There had been talks of Israel annexing certain parts of the West Bank in response to the increase in countries recognizing a Palestinian state, but Mr. Trump has made it clear that this shouldn’t happen.
Mr. Trump dismissed the Knesset vote.
“Don’t worry about the West Bank,” he said. “They’re not going to do anything with it.”
The president has been pressured by other Mideast countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, to reject Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, to the point where his prized foreign policy achievement, the Abraham Accords, may be in jeopardy if that occurs.
He met with Arab and Muslim leaders while at the U.N. General Assembly last month and told them he wouldn’t allow the annexation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who left for Israel on Wednesday, said annexation of the West Bank would be “potentially threatening to the peace deal” in Gaza.
“So they’re a democracy, they’re going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time it’s something that … we think it might be counterproductive,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Along with Mr. Vance, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Israel to monitor the peace plan.
Mr. Rubio is set to meet with Mr. Netanyahu on Friday.
Mr. Trump was in Israel last week to meet with the families of Israeli hostages released as part of the ceasefire agreement. He also addressed the Knesset.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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