U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that President Donald Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and it would not happen, a day after Israeli lawmakers launched legislation to that end.

"When the vice president, Vance, is visiting here, you don’t stick a finger in his eye,” Netanyahu's office reportedly said in a message to Smotrich. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that he didn't want to push the issue of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank during US Vice President Vance's visit,