U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivered sharp criticism on Thursday toward Israeli officials who have opposed the Trump administration's peace deal with Iran, accusing them of ingratitude toward the United States.
Vance's Message to Israeli Cabinet Members
Speaking at a White House press briefing, Vance expressed skepticism about reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "fuming" over the agreement. He then took aim at members of the Israeli cabinet who have made negative public statements about the deal.
"That's not reflective of the conversations that I've had with him, but maybe he's saying something to somebody else that he's not saying to me," Vance said of Netanyahu. "What I will say, and this does bother me, is that you've seen people within Bibi's cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal, and in some ways, very personally attacked the president of the United States."
Vance delivered a pointed message to those critics: "My message to them would be twofold: One, 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, and he happens to be the head of state of the world's superpower." He added, "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."
Israeli Officials Under Fire
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have been among the most vocal opponents of the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding. Ben-Gvir wrote that Israel would not be bound by the deal and posted an image of Vance on social media, arguing that the United States should have dealt with Iran "just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century."
In an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, Vance directly named Smotrich and Ben-Gvir as having attacked the deal. "I guess my response to them would be — what is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have," Vance told the Times.
Trump's Own Criticism
President Donald Trump has also been increasingly critical of the high death toll from Israeli attacks, particularly on Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. "When two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don't have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better, and frankly they could do a better job," Trump said at a press conference during the G7 summit in France on Wednesday.
Vance credited Netanyahu for avoiding personal attacks on Trump but reminded the Israeli cabinet that "two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars." He concluded, "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."
