Washington will resist any attempt by the new Israeli government to annex all or part of the West Bank, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said, the Times of Israel reported.

“Our position is quite clear: We do not support annexation. We will fight any attempt to do so,” Nides told the Kan public broadcaster’s diplomatic correspondent Gili Cohen in an interview aired Thursday, adding that “most of the Arab countries” feel the same way.

Earlier, senior Likud Knesset member Yariv Levin said after meeting with President Isaac Herzog that the annexation of the West Bank was high on the government's agenda. “We brought the State of Israel closer than ever before to applying sovereignty [over the West Bank],” Levin said at the President’s Residence. “We were just a step away on that issue in the past, and I hope that we’ll be able to continue in that direction.”

Shortly before the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced his intention to proceed with the annexation of parts of the West Bank with the support of former U.S. President Donald Trump. But the plan was shelved due to an agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which strongly opposed any attempted annexation.

Nides said he was not concerned about the prospect of annexation and did not expect Israel to try to bring it to fruition. He said he intends to work closely with the expected right-wing government.