In his first public comments on the matter, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked to confirm reports that he assured Arab and Muslim leaders of that stance during a multilateral meeting held Tuesday on the UN General Assembly sidelines.

Trump also stressed that he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue.

“I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank,” Trump repeated. “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now,” he said.

Trump made the comments as Netanyahu was arriving in New York to deliver an address to the United Nations on Friday.

France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal are among the countries that have recognized a Palestinian state in the last few days in part to help keep the possibility of a two-state solution alive. Israel has condemned the moves.

A senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier this week that the Trump administration privately cautioned Israel against annexing the West Bank in response to the recent decisions by Western countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.

However, Jerusalem did not feel that the warning marked “an end to the discussion,” and Netanyahu planned to discuss the matter with Trump during their White House meeting next week, the Israeli official said.

Even if the warning had already been conveyed privately, Trump’s decision to publicly declare he will not allow the West Bank to be annexed is sure to deflate hopes among settler leaders — which reached unprecedented levels following his reelection — that Israel would finally actualize their long-held dreams of annexation.

Without US support, Israel is much less likely to go ahead with the move, which would have diminished significance without backing from the world’s leading superpower and spark massive international backlash. A top Emirati official warned in an exclusive interview with The Times of Israel earlier this month that annexation would be a “red line” that would mark the “end” of regional integration.

BREAKING: Trump:

I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow, not going to happen.

It’s been enough, it’s time to stop now. pic.twitter.com/SwZjuRqE9j

— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 25,........

© The Times of Israel