JD Vance and 15 countries denounce Israeli vote on West Bank annexation

In a joint statement relayed by the Saudi press agency on Thursday, fifteen countries and two organisations condemned a preliminary vote in Israel's Knesset on two bills that would extend Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.

Djibouti; Gambia; Saudi Arabia; Jordan; Indonesia; Pakistan; Turkey; Oman; Palestine; Qatar; Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia; Egypt; Nigeria; the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in a joint statement said they "condemn in the strongest terms such proposals and said it was a "flagrant violation of international law".

In addition, the United Arab Emirates denounced the plans as "a dangerous escalation" and said it expressed "categorical rejection" of annexation, while the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman denounced "a new stage in the colonial and criminal expansionism of the Zionist regime." 

The Knesset voted on Wednesday to consider two bills aimed at extending Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.  

Vice-President JD Vance, who was in Israel when the vote took place, told reporters that if it was a "political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.

"I personally take some insult to it," he said. "The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel".

In an interview with Time magazine conducted on 15 October and broadcast on Thursday, US President Donald Trump stated that Israel would lose "the support of the United States" if it annexed the West Bank.  

"It won't happen. It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries," he said in the ceasefire negotiations.