US President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter on Thursday about the sovereignty bill that was passed in the Knesset a day earlier.
“Don't worry about the West Bank. Israel's not going to do anything with the West Bank, okay? Don't worry about it. Is that your question? They're not going to do anything with the West Bank,” he replied.
“Israel's doing very well. They're not going to do anything with it,” the President reiterated.
Trump previously told TIME Magazine in an interview published on Thursday, conducted before the Knesset voted in a preliminary reading to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria, that Israel will not move forward with applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, warning that such a step would jeopardize its ties with Washington.
“It won’t happen,” Trump told TIME. “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 will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”
US Vice President JD Vance criticized the vote in the Knesset to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
As he boarded Air Force Two to depart Israel on Thursday, the Vice President told the press that the vote was "weird" and said it confused him.
He said that he was told the vote was "symbolic" and a "political stunt." According to Vance, "If it was a political stunt, then it was a stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it."
The Vice President clarified, "The West Bank is not going to 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."