US Vice President JD Vance has said that Washington cannot allow its Middle East policy to become “subservient to the State of Israel,” while stressing the importance of Israel as an American ally.
Speaking at a conference organised by the All-In podcast on Tuesday, Vance said the US-Israel relationship should be based on American interests rather than an expectation that Washington will always agree with the Israeli government.
“Obviously Israel has been an important partner when it comes to military technology, when it comes to intelligence sharing, but also sometimes the United States doesn’t… agree with Israel,” Vance said.
Vance specifically praised President Trump for being willing to disagree with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he believes US and Israeli interests diverge.
“I think that more than frankly any president in the last 40 years, he has shown a willingness to actually part ways with Bibi Netanyahu when he feels like the interests of the American people are different from the interests of the government of Israel,” Vance said.
“Donald Trump is the one president of the last 40 years who’s been willing to say ‘You know what, yeah Bibi’s a good partner, but also Bibi and I have a different opinion on this,’” he added.
Vance said the same principle should apply to the US’ other international relationships.
“We’re gonna work with people when we work with them. We’re gonna disagree when we disagree. And we’re gonna pursue America’s interests. That’s the only way to have a rational foreign policy.
“[We have] a lot of important relationships, a lot of important partnerships in Nato, but that doesn’t mean we’re gonna completely make our European foreign policy subservient to Nato, in the same way that we cannot let our Middle Eastern foreign policy be subservient to the State of Israel.”
His comments come as the Trump administration continues to provide military support to Israel. The administration is preparing a proposed $2.8 billion weapons package that would include 40,000 2,000-pound bombs, according to US officials cited by The Washington Post. The proposed sale has not yet been finalised.
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