Israel was stunned by U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s attack on cabinet ministers but chose not to fire back or respond emotionally, in an effort to avoid widening the rift with President Donald Trump. The decision came after Trump repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days and on Thursday evening published a post spelling out his expectations at this stage, including from Israel.
"The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold. The Markets are loving what is happening with Oil Prices way down, and Stocks way up. We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
JD Vance’s attack on Israeli cabinet ministers
(Video: Reuters)
Although almost the entire Israeli leadership opposes the agreement with Iran, Netanyahu has avoided speaking out against it. That may be because he believes a final agreement will not be signed and that all Israel needs to do now is wait. It is also possible he believes the next opportunity to act against Iran will come only after the U.S. midterm elections in November. In the meantime, the instruction to the IDF is to prepare for possible action against Iran alone.
But the real reason for the silence is that Israel intends to stand firm on its red lines in Lebanon. Israel opposes withdrawing from southern Lebanon, and the understanding in Jerusalem is that pressure on Israel to limit its military operations across multiple fronts will only grow, making it important not to fold.
Netanyahu made that clear Thursday during remarks at the inauguration ceremony for the Bible Road, saying Israel must preserve the security zone in southern Lebanon and will not withdraw as long as its security needs require it, in other words, as long as Hezbollah does not move north of the Litani River.
“In Lebanon, we pushed the threat of a ground invasion away from our communities and broke Hezbollah’s missile power,” Netanyahu said. “There is still work to do, but we have done tremendous work. True, the struggle is not over, and further challenges still lie ahead. These require us to show composure, to stand firmly for our security interests and at the same time to preserve the important relationship with our American friends, who fought alongside us shoulder to shoulder, and we greatly appreciate that.”
“We will continue to navigate our path wisely and responsibly,” he added. “We will preserve the achievements of the government, preserve the achievements of the war, achievements that belong to the entire people of Israel. Just as we restored security and prosperity to the Gaza border communities, so too we will restore security and prosperity to the communities of the north.”
“That requires preserving the security zone in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “It requires that we not leave there as long as Israel’s security needs require it, because that zone separates Hezbollah terrorists from our citizens and communities. And in a broader view, we will continue to adhere to the supreme goal that has guided us, and guided me for most of my adult life: Iran will not have nuclear weapons. As long as I am prime minister of Israel, that will not happen.”
‘Netanyahu brought Trump the headache’
In Israel, officials were surprised by the force of Vance’s criticism and by what was seen as an implied threat of a weapons embargo.
“Vance is simply telling Netanyahu, ‘Get your ministers under control, this won’t pass quietly,’ and he is embarrassing him,” said an Israeli official familiar with the matter. “Vance did this to the Europeans, the Germans and NATO as well. This is his worldview. He reflects the mood in these wings of the Republican Party, which today are the majority. Most of the public diplomacy budgets go to evangelicals because we are losing even them.”
The official added: “Netanyahu brought Trump and Vance the headache. We need to ask ourselves how we reached a situation in which we are losing even American support.”
At his press conference, Vance said: “My message is twofold. 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.
“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 he would also 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 United States provides Israel with roughly $4 billion in military assistance a year.
“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.
Before the press conference, Vance made similar remarks about Israeli cabinet ministers in an interview with The New York Times.
“I don’t think Bibi himself has actually criticized the agreement, because I think he maybe knows a little more closely what its details are,” Vance said. “But we have seen people like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attack the agreement. And my response to them would be: what exactly is your proposal? You are a country of 9 million people. You cannot simply solve every national security problem by killing more and more people.”
Ben-Gvir responded to Vance in a post on X.
“This is my proposal, JD Vance: deal with the Nazis of the 21st century exactly as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century,” he wrote.
Likud minister Miki Zohar was the first to respond to Vance’s remarks, writing: “The intelligence we provide the United States has saved countless American civilian lives. The technologies developed in Israel are used by the U.S. military before anyone else. The partnership between Israel and the United States is important to the free world.”