Vance to Israel: Abide by Iran Deal or Lose Your Last Ally

While Netanyahu himself has not made any public comments about the deal since the signing of the memorandum, Israeli media outlets aligned with Netanyahu have criticized Trump and his team, accusing Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner of selling out Israel for financial gain.

In response to those attacks, Vance pointed out that two-thirds of Israel’s defense weapons have been built and paid for by Americans and that the problem for Israel “is not Donald Trump.”

“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 in that country,” he added. 

Vance also said the Trump administration has spoken to the Israeli government as well as members in the Gulf Coast “pretty much every day,” and he said he did not hear those concerns  during his conversations he had with senior Israeli officials. 

Vance also criticized Israel’s recent decision to launch deadly strikes in Beirut as the U.S. was on the verge of major breakthroughs in the Iran deal negotiations. He said many people who were killed in those strikes “have nothing to do with Hezbollah,” the terrorist organization that Israel claims to have been targeting.