Vice President J.D. Vance eviscerated Israel on Thursday for breaking with the administration by voting to annex the West Bank.
Vance told reporters that he took some personal “insult” to the Knesset’s vote to annex the territory during his trip to the country. The administration has warned that the annexation of the West Bank would be a potential threat to President Donald Trump’s administration’s peace deal in Gaza.
“When I asked about it, somebody told me that it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, that it was symbolic. I mean look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt and I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “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, that is our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly were not happy about it.”
WATCH:
The Knesset voted on two preliminary bills during a Wednesday session. One bill called for the annexation of the entire West Bank, while the other called for control of one of the biggest settlements in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the members not to vote on the bills, but did not take action to stop the vote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the U.S. is concerned about any move that could “destabilize” the peace deal.
“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 especially we think it might be counterproductive… We’re concerned about anything that threatens to destabilize what we’ve worked on,” Rubio said.
Israel and Hamas both agreed to the first phase of the Trump administration’s peace deal, which led to the release of the remaining 20 Israeli hostages and required Israel to withdraw troops to a designated line.
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