Vance Stuns by Calling Trump ‘Only Head of State in the Entire World Who Is Sympathetic’ to Israel

Vice President JD Vance stunned observers on Thursday with some of the bluntest criticism issued to Israel by a US presidential administration in recent memory as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his attempts to sabotage peace with Iran.

Noting the indignance and defiance of Netanyahu and his cabinet in response to the memorandum of understanding signed this week by Trump—which calls on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and end its ethnic cleansing campaign there—Vance said Israel's leaders were in the midst of a “weird panic” and "freakout" during a New York Times interview on Thursday.

"You’re a country of 9 million people," he said. "You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”

It comes on the heels of Trump's own criticism of Israel's tactics in Lebanon earlier this week, describing its bombing of an apartment building—one of countless attacks on civilian infrastructure—as "vicious" and "too much," before claiming that "without me, there would be no Israel."

Vance went even further later on Thursday during a press conference at the White House, reminding Israel's leaders that they've made their country an international pariah.

"My message to them would be 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," Vance said. "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."

In a style reminiscent of his infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year, he later took Israel's leaders to task over what he described as ingratitude for America's support, which has included roughly $4 billion in military assistance each year and even more since Israel began its genocidal military campaign against Gaza in 2023 in response to Hamas' October 7 attacks.

The weapons Israel uses, Vance stressed, "have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars." He added, "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 the country is in."

In a marked shift from earlier this year, when the administration had cosigned Israel's attacks on Lebanon even at the cost of ceasefire negotiations, Vance on Thursday called on Israel to "respect this peace process" and called Israel's attacks on civilians "unacceptable."

Just as observers have been bewildered by Trump's sudden acknowledgment of Iran's rights to possess ballistic missiles and to pursue nuclear energy, many were similarly caught off guard by Vance's abrupt acknowledgment of truths about Israel that have been apparent to most of the world for years.

"JD Vance is not changing the conversation about Israel in the US. He is changing the entire paradigm," said Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "He is reminding the Israelis that they are alone and—though he doesn't use this word—much disliked internationally. Israel should not undermine the only strong friend they have left."

Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid agreed that it was "probably the toughest public criticism offered by a US administration towards Israel in my lifetime," adding that "we'll see if it gets translated into action or if it's just rhetoric, but it's still much more than the Biden administration could ever manage."

The naked cynicism of the flip-flop was apparent to many, given the Trump administration's slavish deference to Israel up to the point that it became political poison.

College students who have said similar things to Vance about Israel's killing of civilians have found themselves facing deportation, while International Criminal Court officials who have attempted to hold Israeli officials criminally liable for war crimes have found themselves sanctioned by the US.

That is to say nothing of Trump's willingness to follow Netanyahu's lead into a disastrous and unpopular war with Iran despite warnings from his own cabinet that he was being manipulated.

"It would be nice if they had this posture from January 2025," journalist Zaid Jilani said of Vance's comments on Thursday. "Might have helped save Trump's presidency."

Alexander Langlois, a contributing fellow at the anti-interventionist think tank Defense Priorities, described it as a deeply calculated maneuver to simultaneously show Israel who is boss in front of a nation growing wary of its influence while also reiterating America's support.

"Vance is drawing a line. The White House is absolutely trying to use its power and influence to get not only Republicans, but Israel, in line," he said.

Still, despite doubts, it was hard to overstate the gravity of the shift underway, at least rhetorically.

"It could all lead to nothing, or worse—a joint US-Israel resumption of the war," said journalist Glenn Greenwald. "But there hasn't been a week where American leaders have spoken so sternly, clearly, truthfully and decisively about Israel since... well, perhaps ever."