Vance Calls Israeli Vote to Annex West Bank an ‘Insult’

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Oct. 23 called a new Israeli bill, which received preliminary approval in the Knesset and would apply Israeli law to the West Bank, an “insult.”

Vance was on a two-day visit to the Jewish state when he made the comments following a vote by Israeli lawmakers on Oct. 22.

“If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it,” he told reporters.

Vance said that President Donald Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the region and said that it would not happen.

“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” he said. “The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy.”

Despite the vote, Vance told reporters at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport that he “feels pretty good” about the cease-fire after holding talks with Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.

The U.S. vice president’s comments followed concerns expressed earlier by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that steps toward annexing the West Bank could endanger Trump’s peace plan.

“That’s a vote in the Knesset, but obviously I think the president’s made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now, and we think it’s potentially threatening to the peace deal,” Rubio said on Oct. 22 before leaving for Israel.

The vote was sponsored by right-wing opposition lawmaker Avi Maoz, who, until recently, was in the ruling coalition.

“The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave Eretz Israel to the Jewish people,” Maoz told the Knesset.

“The settlement in Eretz Israel is the redemption and national revival; settlement is what makes Eretz Israel blossom after 2,000 years of exile. By applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria [the Israeli term for the West Bank], we are making a repair that is long overdue. Since the government has tarried, it is our role as members of Knesset to do so.”

The reading passed by a vote of 25–24 out of 120 lawmakers and will now be turned over to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for deliberation.

Netanyahu’s office called the vote “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,” his office said in a statement posted on Netanyahu’s X account.

“The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee. Without Likud support these bills are unlikely to go anywhere.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose National Religious Party–Religious Zionism party is part of the ruling coalition, expressed support for the bill in a post on X.

“Mr. Prime Minister, The Knesset has spoken. The people have spoken,” Smotrich wrote.

“The time has come to apply full sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria – the inheritance of our forefathers – and to promote peace agreements in exchange for peace with our neighbors, from a position of strength.”

Trump has said that he would not allow Israel to annex the area, which has been a disputed territory between Israel and Palestinian organizations for decades.

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen,” the president told reporters at the Oval Office on Sept. 25.

The West Bank has been under Israeli military control since 1967, when Israel captured the territory from Jordan during the Six-Day War. Israel maintains that it has the right to settle its citizens there. The Palestinian Authority regards the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem as part of a future state it seeks.

Reuters contributed to this report.