U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance ended his visit to Israel on Thursday, Oct. 23, by sharply criticizing the Knesset’s vote to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, calling it “a very stupid” political stunt. “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it,” he told reporters.
Vance’s comments came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that any move toward annexation could jeopardize President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, which remains fragile.
“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed,” Vance said, reiterating Washington’s position, Reuters reports.
Trump echoed that stance in his Time interview, insisting annexation “won’t happen” because of U.S. commitments to Arab partners. “I gave my word to the Arab countries,” he said. “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked outrage after dismissing Saudi Arabia’s insistence on Palestinian statehood as a precondition for normalization. “If Saudi Arabia tells us that it is normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state, then no thank you, my friends,” he said at a conference, adding, “Keep riding your camels in the Saudi desert.”
Hours later, Smotrich posted a video apologizing for the remark, calling it “absolutely inappropriate,” but reaffirmed his opposition to a Palestinian state. “I expect from the Saudis not to do us harm and not to deny our heritage, our tradition and the rights of the Jewish people to its historic homelands in Judea and Samaria.”
