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Meanwhile, Netanyahu is under considerable pressure so long as bodies of deceased hostages remain in Gaza. To Israelis, Hamas has made no concessions other than releasing the hostages and hasn’t fully complied with that part of the agreement, a veteran Israeli political operative said. And Israeli soldiers are still fighting and dying on the yellow line, the person added.
Trump’s promise to Arab leaders that Israel would not annex the West Bank came during a meeting at the United Nations, the same meeting where, according to Trump officials, he solidified the plan that ultimately brought about the peace deal he celebrated last week.
Trump, asked about the Knesset’s vote Thursday afternoon, brushed off the possibility that Israel would try to annex the West Bank. “Don’t worry about the West Bank, okay?” Trump said. “Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank.”
But just hours earlier, Vance derided the Knesset vote as a “very stupid stunt,” criticizing Israel’s government on its soil shortly after meeting with Netanyahu.
“I personally take some insult to it,” he said.
A person close to the vice president said the meeting with Netanyahu was instructive and positive.
Rubio, who arrived in Israel Thursday, told reporters before leaving Washington that he, too, was dismayed by the vote given Trump’s promise to Arab leaders before the Gaza peace deal came to fruition that he wouldn’t allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
“We think it’s potentially threatening to the peace deal,” Rubio said. “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.”
