US Warns Israel on West Bank Annexation (Again)
Vance's concern over annexation jeopardizing a 'truce' (following a ceasefire after two years of assault on Gaza post-October 2023) is a masterclass in selective amnesia. Netanyahu's government has been doing exactly this, with varying degrees of official recognition, for decades. We heard similar hand-wringing during the 2014 Gaza assault, and the 2006 Lebanon war, and certainly since 1967.
Annexation isn't a new threat; it's a persistent, creeping reality. The US government, meanwhile, regularly approves billions in unconditional military aid to Israel, alongside a tacit approval of settlement expansion. The 'warning' against annexation rings hollow when the funding pipeline remains wide open. How many times does a country get to be 'warned' against actions it continuously
undertakes, while simultaneously being supplied with the means to do so, before we call it what it is: performative diplomacy?