US President Donald Trump (R) in the Oval of the White House in January 2025. Photo: Fortune via Reuters Connect

US President Donald Trump on Monday did not bat down the prospect of Israel annexing parts of the West Bank, noting that the Jewish state is a “very small piece of land” and praising Israelis for their “amazing” accomplishments despite their country’s size.

While speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether he supports Israel potentially annexing the West Bank. Though Trump refused to answer the question directly, he seemed to indicate dissatisfaction with the size of Israel’s territorial boundaries. 

“Well, I’m not going to talk about that,” Trump said regarding West Bank annexation. “It [Israel] certainly is a small country in terms of land.”

Trump then picked up a stationery pen and juxtaposed it to his presidential desk, comparing the size of Israel to its Middle Eastern neighbors.

“That’s not good, you know? It’s a pretty big difference,” Trump said, regarding the size of Israel. 

“I use that as analogy. It’s pretty accurate, actually,” Trump said. “It’s a pretty small piece of land, and it’s amazing that they’ve been able to do, what they’ve been able to do when you think about it. There’s a lot of good, smart brainpower. But it is a very small piece of land, no question about it.”

Trump has previously indicated a potential belief that Israel should expand its territorial boundaries. In August 2024, while still campaigning for president, Trump called Israel “tiny” and questioned if the country could expand. 

“When you look at the map, a map of the Middle East, Israel is a tiny little spot compared to these giant landmasses. It’s really a tiny spot. I actually said, ‘Is there any way of getting more?'” Trump said 

Observers have pondered whether Trump would support a formal annexation of parts of the West Bank in his second term. Although Trump has yet to indicate support for such measures, Jewish billionaire Miriam Adelson, one of the president’s most generous campaign donors, allegedly requested support for West Bank annexation in exchange for financial assistance. However, a spokesperson for Adelson denied that she made such a request.

The first Trump administration handled the West Bank in a different fashion than its predecessors, suggesting that the White House might be open to upending traditional policy regarding the territory. In 2019, the Trump administration reversed the US policy that declared Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. Explaining the policy shift, then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace.”

Proponents of annexation argue that establishing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank would protect the Jewish state from future terrorist attacks by groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while also providing residents a better quality of life.

However, opponents of West Bank annexation argue that such an action would deprive Palestinians of the ability to have their own state and trigger an onslaught of backlash from Israel’s Western allies and international institutions such as the UN.

The Trump administration has issued an executive order rescinding sanctions imposed during the Biden administration against Israelis living in the West Ban. The sanctions accused them of behaving violently against Palestinians in the West Bank. Mike Huckabee, the nominee for US ambassador to Israel, has publicly declared that he will refer to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” adopting terminology preferred by Israel.