'West Bank won't be annexed by Israel’: VP Vance blasts ‘stupid political stunt’ while Trump warns Israel will ‘lose all US support’

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance issued sharply worded rejections to Israeli plans to potentially annex portions – or the entire area – of Judea and Samaria, internationally known as the West Bank.

Toward the end of his visit to Israel, Vance responded to a largely symbolic Knesset vote the evening before, which approved two bills calling to annex the town of Ma’ale Adumim and all of Judea and Samaria, respectively.

JD Vance on the Judea and Samaria sovereignty vote in the Knesset yesterday:

“It was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it… The West Bank is not gonna be annexed by Israel.” pic.twitter.com/hyWxm9z2EL

— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) October 23, 2025

“If it was a political stunt, it was a stupid one and I take some insult to it,” Vance told a reporter in reference to the vote.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office (PMO) distanced the government from the vote, blaming the opposition for trying to "sow discord" during Vance's visit, and vowed the bills would not advance.

Wednesday’s Knesset vote constituted the preliminary reading for the two bills, which were then forwarded to the Defense Committee for further discussion. Each bill must still clear three additional readings before it can become law.

“That was weird; I was sort of confused by that,” the vice president said, adding that someone had explained to him that it was a symbolic vote and a “political stunt” without practical significance.

“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” he said, stressing that this is the policy of the Trump administration. “If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it,” he added.

Almost simultaneously, Time Magazine published an interview with President Donald Trump, recorded on Oct.15 and touched on the same issue.

Asked about potential consequences if Israel were to annex Judea and Samaria, Trump replied, “It won't happen. It won't happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can't do that now. We've had great Arab support. It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries.”

“It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

On Thursday afternoon, the PMO stated, "The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel. The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset."

The statement continued: "The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills."

However, some members of the Religious Zionism and Jewish Power parties voted in favor of the bills. In addition, several lawmakers from the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party – who left the coalition but have not formally joined the opposition – also backed them.

The statement also noted that the bills were supported by "one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee," referring to Yuli Edelstein.

"Without Likud support, these bills are unlikely to go anywhere," the statement read.

After numerous Western states declared their recognition of a “Palestinian state” several weeks ago, media reports suggested that the Israeli government considered annexing parts of Judea and Samaria in response.

However, Trump publicly opposed such a move at the time, and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, had agreed this would be a “red line.”

Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Netanyahu exerted strong pressure on the coalition not to bring the bills to a vote or to oppose them. However, some lawmakers from UTJ, Religious Zionism, and Jewish Power, in addition to his own Likud colleague, Edelstein, defied the prime minister.

Netanyahu specifically warned against offending the Trump administration by supporting these bills.

U.S. State Secretary Marc Rubio, who is expected to arrive in Israel on Friday for a two-day visit, was the first American official to criticize the move. 

“They’re a democracy, people are going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time we think it might be counterproductive,” Rubio said.