Vice President JD Vance on Thursday delivered a sharp rebuke to Israeli cabinet members who have criticized the US-Iran agreement, saying President Donald Trump is Israel’s only remaining ally and that American taxpayers underwrite the country’s defense.
“No. 1: Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance told reporters at a White House news briefing.
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” he said.
The remarks came after the deal reached this week to end the war with Iran drew criticism from Israeli officials who argued it does not curb Tehran’s missile program and provides no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities. Critics also said the agreement constrains Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Vance was asked about a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was angry over the agreement. The vice president said he had not heard such comments from Netanyahu but criticized members of the Israeli leader’s cabinet for attacking the deal and personally attacking Trump.
He said he would remind those cabinet members that two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected Israel “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.” The US provides Israel with roughly $4 billion in military assistance annually, and the two countries are negotiating a new aid agreement.
“The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in,” Vance said.
Netanyahu’s office and Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. However, Israeli senior officials speaking anonymously said the deal terms were bad for Israel because they failed to address nuclear and ballistic missile concerns.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Israel, spiking tensions nearly four months after the two countries partnered to attack Iran. The war has roiled global oil markets as Tehran responded by closing the critical Strait of Hormuz supply route.
In his first comments since the deal, Netanyahu said Israel appreciated its relationship with the US but would continue to occupy southern Lebanon to maintain security for citizens near the northern border. Israel published a map Thursday showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it, challenging the terms of the US-Iran agreement.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a linchpin in Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has harshly rebuked the deal and insisted Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon. Vance criticized Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a New York Times interview released Thursday.
“What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” Vance said in the interview.
“I find this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region, of the world,” Vance said at the briefing.
Ben-Gvir responded to Vance’s remarks on X, saying: “This is the proposal … To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century.”
Trump, in a social media post after Vance’s remarks, said he encouraged everyone in the Middle East to maintain their commitment to allowing negotiations. “We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel,” Trump wrote.