Vice President JD Vance has issued a pointed warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Donald Trump is prepared to “part ways” with the longtime Israeli leader if necessary.
Speaking by videoconference to technology executives at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Vance said the Trump administration was willing to distance itself from a key ally when doing so served American interests.
“Obviously, Israel has been an important partner when it comes to military technology and intelligence sharing, but sometimes the United States doesn’t… agree with Israel,” Vance told the audience.
Trump, Vance said, “has shown a willingness to actually part ways with Bibi Netanyahu when he feels like the interests of the American people are different from the interests of the government of Israel.”
Vance portrayed Trump as the only president in the past 40 years willing to openly diverge from Netanyahu, despite reported tensions between the Israeli prime minister and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
After saying he would not allow US foreign policy toward Europe to become “subservient” to NATO, Vance turned his attention back to America’s Middle East ally.
“We cannot let our Middle Eastern foreign policy be subservient to the state of Israel.”
Vance and Trump have both shown growing frustration with Israel’s leadership in recent months as the conflict involving the two allies and Iran continues.
“We cannot let our Middle Eastern foreign policy be subservient to the state of Israel,” JD Vance said at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Vance said Donald Trump is willing to “part ways” with Benjamin Netanyahu if doing so is necessary to protect US interests
Trump and Vance voiced frustration with Netanyahu and Israel’s leadership over the summer after Israel repeatedly targeted Hezbollah forces in Lebanon during fragile peace talks the United States was conducting with Iran
In June, Vance warned that Israel, a country of 10.3 million people, had few remaining friends on the international stage willing to defend it.
Those remarks have estranged the vice president from some Jewish Republican donors and Israeli diplomats.
The temporary ceasefire agreement Vance negotiated with Iran in June also drew anger from some pro-Israel groups that wanted the fighting against the Islamic Republic to continue.
Critics argued that the agreement weakened Israel’s objective of pursuing regime change in Iran.
Trump himself has also been more willing to criticize the Israeli leader when he thinks he’s being undermined.
During a tense phone call in June after Israel unleashed a furious bombing against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Trump reportedly called the Israeli leader ‘f***ing crazy.’
‘You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,’ Trump reportedly yelled. ‘What the f*** are you doing?’
More recently, Trump told reporters that he would speak with Israeli leaders amid international concern that Palestinians in the West Bank have been persecuted.
Vance’s efforts to end the Iran war in June with a ceasefire agreement angered some pro-Israel GOP donors and Israeli diplomats
‘I’ll be speaking to Israel,’ Trump said of the settlement issue. ‘I’ll be speaking to them, and I’ll find out what they, what’s their thinking. I understand exactly what’s going on. But I want to find out why all of a sudden does that happen.’
The UK, France, Canada and nine other nations jointly announced sanctions on Israel over the violence in the West Bank.
Trump reportedly did not attempt to intervene or push back on the effort, signaling his reluctance to defend the close US ally against economic punishment.
The President last met Netanyahu at the White House on July 28, their first face-to-face conversation since the war with Iran began in February.
Vance also met Netanyahu at the White House this past July and in Jerusalem in April.
