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US President Donald Trump warned Israel on Thursday that it would lose “all American support” if it proceeded with annexing the occupied West Bank, insisting that such a move “will not happen.”
In an interview with Time magazine, Trump said: “We have had great Arab support. It will not happen (annexation of the West Bank) because I promised the Arab countries that it would not. It will not happen. Israel will lose all US support if it happens.”
The president also claimed he intervened to stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from continuing military operations in Gaza, citing concerns over Israel’s waning international backing. “I did it in part to warn of the deteriorating global support Israel enjoys,” Trump said.
Trump’s remarks come amid rising tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv following the Israeli Knesset’s (parliament) preliminary approval on Wednesday of a bill to impose “Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank—a step widely viewed as a prelude to formal annexation.
The bill, submitted by MK Avi Maoz, leader of the far-right Noam party, passed by a narrow margin of 25 votes to 24, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reported attempts to delay the vote to avoid further friction with Washington.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, internal divisions surfaced within Netanyahu’s governing coalition during the vote. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir welcomed the measure, declaring, “The time to impose sovereignty over the West Bank has come now.”
Trump’s remarks mark one of the sharpest warnings yet from Washington toward Israel since the onset of the Gaza conflict, underscoring the growing rift between the two allies over settlement expansion and the future of the occupied territories.
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