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OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:38 AM – Thursday, October 23, 2025
Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized a vote in Israel’s parliament, which moved towards annexation of the West Bank, calling the move an “insult” and a “very stupid political stunt.”
Vance’s comments came during his trip to Israel, in response to the Israeli parliament passing a “symbolic” vote in support of the annexation of the West Bank, which President Donald Trump vowed not to allow.
Vance was asked about the passage of the vote while on the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s international airport, responding: “Oh yeah, that was weird. That was weird; I was sort of confused by that. I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote. … A symbolic vote to annex the West Bank.”
“I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me that it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, that it was purely symbolic. I mean, look if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it.”
He continued, “The West Bank is not gonna be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel, that will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.”
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The bill called on the Israeli government to “apply its laws and sovereignty to the areas of settlement in Judea and Samaria to establish the status of these areas as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”
Vance’s trip to Israel was meant to continue facilitating support for the ceasefire, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to follow up on the vice president’s visit on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled the vote a “deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vance’s visit to Israel.”
“The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset,” the Prime Minister’s Office wrote in a statement. “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.”
Although Netanyahu’s party did not support the bill, close ally and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir justified the vote, proclaiming that “Israel is an independent sovereign state” and therefore “the members of the Knesset vote according to their judgment.”
Additionally, President Donald Trump has also pressured Israel against the move to annex the West Bank as he attempts to secure a historic peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, stating that Israel would lose “all support” from the United States if it moves forward with the annexation.
“It won’t happen. It won’t happen,” Trump stated last week. “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.”
The vice president’s firm comments come as the Trump administration seeks to hold President Trump’s 20-point peace proposal together as it moves into phase two, which includes the disarmament of Hamas and a further retreat out of Gaza by the Israeli military.
Despite the U.S. and Israeli governments calling on Hamas to disarm, it is currently unclear whether the terror group will comply.
Senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal told Reuters last week that he could not commit to the group disarming, stating: “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?”
Nazzal went on to state that Hamas proposed a long-term truce in meetings with U.S. officials in order to rebuild the Gaza Strip, noting, “The goal isn’t to prepare for a future war.”
“The Palestinian people want an independent Palestinian,” he added.
When President Trump was asked about Nazzal’s comments, the president responded, stating, “We have a commitment from them and I assume they’re going to honor their commitment.”
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