By Elena Voss, Mideast Rift Correspondent
Tel Aviv – October 25, 2025
In a blistering takedown that’s fracturing the ironclad U.S.-Israel alliance, Vice President JD Vance torched the Knesset’s West Bank annexation vote as a “very stupid political stunt” that personally insulted him – and Washington won’t stand for it torpedoing Middle East peace. Speaking on the sweltering tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport Thursday, Vance didn’t mince words: “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid one, and I take some insult to it.
The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy.” Skeptics branded it empty bluster from a MAGA upstart, but the fallout’s real: Netanyahu’s office scrambled to halt the bills, Arab envoys are buzzing with optimism, and Trump’s Gaza ceasefire – that fragile crown jewel – just dodged a settler-shaped bullet.
The drama detonated Wednesday, as Vance wrapped a two-day Tel Aviv huddle aimed at bolstering the Gaza truce. Far-right Knesset rebels, smelling blood in Bibi’s coalition cracks, rammed through preliminary approval on two annexation bills – one gobbling all settlements, the other zeroing in on Ma’ale Adumim’s 40,000-strong bloc. The razor-thin 25-24 tally, per Knesset logs, bypassed Likud loyalists but ignited a firestorm. UN monitors clocked 757 settler attacks in the West Bank’s first half of 2025 alone – a 13% spike from last year – with olive groves torched and 1,000+ Palestinians displaced since Gaza’s guns fell silent. Leaked opposition memos, splashed by Haaretz, confirm the stunt was timed to sabotage Vance’s visit, forcing Trump’s hand amid whispers of Saudi nukes dangling over Abraham Accords 2.0.
Vance’s venom? It’s got teeth. Hours after his airport rant, Netanyahu’s team issued a rare English-language smackdown: “A deliberate provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vance’s trip.” Top Likud brass announced Bibi’s freeze on further votes, stalling the bills indefinitely – a direct bow to White House pressure, per Axios insiders. Trump’s Time interview Thursday doubled down: Annex, and “they’ll lose all support.” Rubio, en route to Jerusalem, echoed: “Counterproductive – it threatens the president’s peace blueprint.” The intrigue? Mossad chatter hints the stunt was a Likud defector’s revenge play – one axed committee chair who flipped the vote – but Vance’s insult flipped the script, spiking U.S. aid assurances for IDF drone upgrades.
The uproar’s seismic. AIPAC war rooms erupt: “Vance’s betrayal – insulting our staunchest ally?” X boils with #VanceVsBibi at 3.1 million posts, settler militias in Hebron vowing “no surrender” amid overnight raids that wounded 12. Palestinians? Ecstatic yet wary – Ramallah’s foreign ministry hailed it as “U.S. awakening,” but Hamas Telegram gloats: “Infighting? Our gain.” Even Macron piled on from Paris: “Annexation’s a red line.” Markets jitter: Tel Aviv’s TASE shed 2.8%, while Dubai’s index popped 1.4% on peace deal hopes.
Is this Vance’s rogue flex, eroding Trump’s pro-Israel cred for broader Arab buy-in? Or Netanyahu’s sly concession to keep the $3.8 billion aid spigot flowing? Human stakes soar: 3 million West Bank Palestinians eye statehood dreams crushed by concrete and checkpoints. As Vance’s plane lifted off, one anonymous settler leader sneered to Ynet: “Stupid? Try suicidal for them.” Trump’s diplomacy teeters on this stunt’s ashes – will Bibi’s halt hold, or ignite a full U.S. rift? The Jordan Valley’s fault lines crack wider. Who’s really pulling strings in this high-stakes poker? The pot’s peace – and the ante’s just gone up.
