WASHINGTON — US Vice President JD Vance on Monday declined to back Benjamin Netanyahu in his reelection bid next week, breaking away from President Donald Trump, who recently threw his support behind the Israeli prime minister.
“The president has the most effective endorsement in American or international political history,” Vance said in an interview with journalist Mark Halperin.
“I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on in the midterms,” he told Halperin aboard Air Force Two. “I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections.”
The comments also come as US public support for Israel, historically strong among both Republicans and Democrats, has fallen sharply. There has also been vigorous debate in America about the Netanyahu-led government’s response to the Hamas attack.
In June, Vance said that Israel has almost no friends left in the world and should think hard before turning on the one it has.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that Netanyahu “has been a Great Warrior Primen Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The Oct. 27 election is the first national election since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and will be a referendum on Netanyahu’s response.
Vance said he wasn’t for or against endorsing Netanyahu.
“I’m not anti-endorsing him. I’m not pro-endorsing him. I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections,” Vance said.
Trump had also previously held off endorsing Netanyahu.
“I’m not involved in [Israeli] politics anymore,” Trump told Time earlier this month.
But Trump gave his full-throated endorsement Saturday for Netanyahu, calling him a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” in a post on social media.
Vance’s apparent break from Trump in declining to endorse the prime minister comes just days before Israel’s election and as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth traveled to Israel in an unannounced trip, according to two sources familiar and a US official.
Hegseth met Monday evening with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, according to an Israeli source familiar with the details and another source familiar.
Source: Saudi Gazette