By RENATA BRITO and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized Thursday Israel’s parliament vote on West Bank annexation, saying it amounted to an “insult.” Vance’s scathing remark came as his visit wrapped up Thursday and after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would now be traveling to Israel.

Vance’s words and the intense diplomacy indicate that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was intent on keeping up the momentum on the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Speaking on the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s international airport before departing Israel, Vance said that if the Knesset vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”

“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “Th

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