Frustration toward Israel in White House grows amid fragile ceasefire, annexation vote
Jpost
Frustration towards Israel is growing in the White House in light of its counterattack on Gaza on Sunday and the West Bank annexation proposal that was raised in the Knesset, POLITICO reported Thursday.
The successive visits of US President Donald Trump’s administration officials to Israel have been meant to keep the fragile ceasefire in place.
US Vice President JD Vance delivered a ‘firm message’ to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Trump in Wednesday’s Jerusalem meeting, the report said, citing two people familiar with the conversation.
After two IDF soldiers were killed in Gaza, Israel assured the US that its response would be careful and limited.
However, the strikes murdered upwards of 40 civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. Senior US officials were furious about the strikes, telling one Arab ally that Israel was ‘out of control,’ POLITICO quoted one of the two people familiar with the conversation as saying.
POTUS Trump, in an interview with Time magazine, said that if Israel annexes the West Bank, it would lose all US support. US Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vance all previously condemned West Bank annexation.
A White House official said that these public comments ‘reflect how the president feels,’ according to the report.