Trump warns Israel that annexation threatens US support
President Trump has warned Israel it could lose all U.S. support if it moves forward on efforts to annex territory in the West Bank, as the Israeli government advances legislation aiming to formalize its sovereignty over settlements in the region.
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine conducted Oct. 15 and published Thursday, said he could cut off U.S. assistance to Israel if it moves forward with annexation.
“Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened,” he said.
“It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now,” the president continued. “We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen.”
Echoing Trump’s warning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said before he traveled to Israel that annexation would threaten the U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that was put in place earlier this month.
“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 told reporters Wednesday.
The secretary, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, arrived in Israel on Thursday to visit the U.S. command center overseeing the ceasefire.
The warnings come amid the Israeli government advancing two bills to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Wednesday, although they face a long road to becoming law, the Times of Israel reported.
Rubio noted the U.S. believes moving the bill through the Knesset would be “counterproductive.”
“So, they’re a democracy, they’re going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time it’s something that especially we don’t — we think it might be counterproductive,” he said.
The warnings followed Vice President Vance issuing the same line in Israel.
Vance said that if the Knesset’s vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt,” The Associated Press reported.
“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”