US Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal on Thursday, saying that Tel Aviv couldn’t just “kill your way out” of every national security problem.
In an interview with the New York Times, Vance criticised Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for opposing the US-Iran peace deal.
“What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have,” Vance said.
“I find this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region of the world,” Vance said.
Vance was defending the deal reached this week to end the war with Iran that critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran’s missile program and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
US President Donald Trump, in a social media post after Vance’s remarks on Thursday, said he encouraged everyone in West Asia to maintain their commitment to allowing negotiations to take place.
“We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel,” Trump wrote.
Itamar Ben-Gvir responds
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a linchpin in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has harshly rebuked the US-Iran deal and insisted Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon.
Ben-Gvir responded to Vance’s remarks on X, saying, “This is the proposal … To deal with the Nazis of the 21st century, just as the United States dealt with the Nazis of the 20th century.”
Trump has repeatedly criticised longtime ally Israel, spiking tensions nearly four months after the two countries partnered to attack Iran. The war has roiled markets and global oil supplies as Tehran responded by closing the critical Strait of Hormuz supply route.
US-Israel tensions
Israeli senior officials quoted by Reuters have said that the US-Iran deal terms were bad for Israel because they failed to address concerns over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, a view they say is shared across Israel’s leadership.
Donald Trump tried to play down Israel’s concerns during closing remarks on Wednesday at the Group of Seven summit in France.
Benjamin Netanyahu could use a “softer touch” in the fight against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Trump said.
In his first comments since the deal, Netanyahu said at a public event that Israel appreciated its relationship with the US but would continue to occupy southern Lebanon to maintain security for citizens living near Israel’s northern border.
“This requires maintaining the security strip in southern Lebanon; it requires that we not leave there as long as Israel’s security needs require it,” Netanyahu said.
Israel published a map on Thursday showing an expanded military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out carrying out attacks beyond it, challenging the terms of the US-Iran pact.
