‘Annexation not going to happen’: Marco Rubio after Trump said ‘don’t worry about West Bank’

Vote to annex occupied West Bank

The bill, titled “Application of Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, 2025,” initiated by far-right MP Avi Maoz passed the initial vote on Wednesday, 25-24, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party voting against the legislation.

The vote took place the same day US Vice President JD Vance was visiting Israel. Rubio said he understood that the vote was due to “elements that tried to use it to embarrass Netanyahu” during Vance’s visit.

‘Will affect Gaza peace process’

While expressing doubts on the bill ever passing the Knesset, Rubio further said it would nevertheless threaten the Gaza peace process.

“Everyone has to understand if something like that [annexation] were to happen right now, a lot of the countries that are involved in working on this probably aren’t going to want to be involved in this anymore,” Rubio said.

International condemnation

Several countries, including UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Egypt and Nigeria, have criticised the Israeli move to apply sovereignty over the West Bank, which it has occupied since the 1967 six-day war.

Israel has hundreds of settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law and Palestinians have regularly accused the Jewish settlers of vandalising their houses and crops.

What Trump said

Earlier, on Thursday, Trump had also rejected the vote on annexation, saying, “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank.”

“Don’t worry about the West Bank,” Trump responded to a question about the Knesset vote, adding that “Israel’s doing very well,” Trump continued: “They’re not going to do anything with it.”

Vance also criticised the vote while on travel to Israel, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against Trump administration policies.