US Vice President JD Vance criticised a symbolic vote in Israel’s parliament on Thursday regarding the annexation of the occupied West Bank, calling it an “insult” that went against the Trump administration’s policies.
Hard-liners in the Knesset narrowly passed a preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank on Wednesday, in an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in Israel.
The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house, passed with a 25-24 vote, and sparked widespread condemnation, with over a dozen countries — including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — rebuking it in a joint statement that called all Israeli settlements in the West Bank a violation of international law.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the “vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord.”
Vance said that if the Knesset’s vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”
“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”
The deputy Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Palestinians “appreciate the clear message” the Trump administration has sent in opposition to annexation.
Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks between factions in the right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel, grow more apparent.
While many members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including his Likud Party, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since US President Donald Trump said last month that he opposes the move.
The United Arab Emirates, a key US and Israeli ally in the push for peace in Gaza, has said any annexation by Israel would be a “red line.”
The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, for a future independent state.
Israeli annexation of the West Bank would all but bury hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the outcome supported by most of the world.
Speaking at Ben Gurion airport before leaving Israel, Vance also unveiled new details about US plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some “Hamas-free” areas.
But he warned that rebuilding the territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.
“The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there),” he said, speaking of the Strip’s southernmost city.
That would account for about a quarter of Gaza’s population of roughly 2 million, 90% of whom were displaces from their homes during the fighting.
An estimated cost of rebuilding Gaza is about $53 billion (€45 billion), according to the World Bank, the UN and the European Union.
US push toward peace
Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military coordination centre in southern Israel where some 200 US troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries planning the stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza.
The United States is seeking support from other allies, especially Gulf Arab nations, to create an international stabilisation force to be deployed to Gaza and train a Palestinian force.
“We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza that are not Hamas and that are going to do a good job, but those still have to be trained and equipped,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of his trip to Israel, where he landed on Thursday.
Rubio, who is to meet with Netanyahu, has also criticised Israeli far-right lawmakers’ effort to push for West Bank annexation.
Israeli media referred to the non-stop parade of American officials visiting to ensure Israel holds up its side of the fragile ceasefire as “Bibi-sitting.”
The term, utilising Netanyahu’s nickname Bibi, refers to an old campaign ad when Netanyahu positioned himself as the “Bibi-sitter” whom voters could trust with their kids.