Vance says he was insulted by Israeli lawmakers

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday criticized a israeli parliament vote to promote a bill on the proposed annexation of the occupied West Bank, calling it “a very stupid political trick.”

“Personally, I feel it as an insult,” Vance said at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as he left the country after his visit. “Israel is not going to annex the West Bank. The policy of the Trump administration is that Israel will not annex the West Bank. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy with that.”

Wednesday’s preliminary vote in favor of Israeli annexation of the West Bank was narrowly approved, 25 votes to 24, during Vance’s visit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also criticized the vote on that bill and other more limited annexation legislation, calling it “a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel.”

Netanyahu’s office noted that without the support of his party in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, “these bills are unlikely to go anywhere.”

The prime minister faces an internal political fight to avoid an early national election, and some members of his far-right coalition government are unhappy about the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, which has held despite major challenges over the weekend, with both sides accusing the other of violations.

Although many members of Netanyahu’s coalition support Israeli annexation of the West Bank, they have withdrawn their public calls since President Trump spoke out against the idea last month.

The broader annexation bill could only become law after at least two more rounds of voting in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, which it would be unlikely to survive.

Vance said he hoped an international security force would take on the task of disarming Hamas, something Israel and Trump have demanded as a key next step in the peace process. He said he also hoped that reconstruction of areas of Gaza where Hamas no longer operates could happen “quite quickly.”

“This is still pretty early, but that’s the basic idea,” Vance said Thursday. “Let’s take the areas where Hamas is not operating, let’s start rebuilding very quickly, let’s start bringing Gazans over so they can live there, so they can have good jobs and hopefully some security and comfort as well, very quickly.”

Vance said he hoped the southern city of Rafah could be rebuilt within two or three years.

In:

• J.D. Vance
• Hamas
• Israel
• Cease-fire
• donald trump
• Benjamin Netanyahu
• West Bank