by Lazar Berman at The Times of Israel
VP Vance says Knesset preliminary vote on matter was ‘very stupid’ and an insult to him, marring his visit; US president predicts Saudi normalization this year, weighs intervening for Barghouti
Seemingly putting the kibosh on the Israeli right’s dream of applying sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, US President Donald Trump has said Israel would lose “all support” from the United States if it tried to move ahead with annexation.
The comments published Thursday by Time magazine were made by Trump during an October 15 interview, prior to the Knesset’s passage on Wednesday — in a preliminary reading and against the prime minister’s wishes — of a bill that would apply Israeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements. Underlining the administration’s lack of patience for such efforts, Trump’s deputy JD Vance said Thursday as he departed Israel that the previous day’s vote had offended him and was “very stupid.”
“It won’t happen. It won’t happen,” Trump told Time, referring to annexation. “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.”
Trump had already ruled out the idea last month, saying, “I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” But the comments published Thursday were his most stern warning yet that he would not tolerate the move.
Also in the Time interview,…
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