Vice President JD Vance declined this week to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The refusal came a day after President Donald Trump publicly praised the Israeli leader, with an election scheduled for next week.
"I'm not anti-endorsing him. I'm not pro-endorsing him," Vance said in an interview on Mark Halperin's 2WAY Tonight, published Monday. "I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections."
The contrast was clear. Trump had taken the opposite position on Sunday, using Truth Social to call Netanyahu "a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran." Netanyahu thanked Trump in a social media post for his "tremendous support and work together." Netanyahu is the country's longest-serving prime minister.
A Vice President Who Has Picked Sides Before
Vance presented his reluctance as a matter of focus, not criticism. "The president has the most effective endorsement in American or international political history," he said. "I endorse American candidates, and that's where I'm focused on in the midterms."
That stance sits awkwardly beside his record. In April, Vance traveled to Budapest to publicly endorse then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban's reelection bid. Voters ousted Orban after 16 years in power. Last year, at a security conference in Munich, Vance met Alice Weidel, leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party, which Elon Musk was also boosting at the time.
Vance has weighed in on foreign elections before when he wanted to. This time, he isn't stepping in.
An Election Under a Long Shadow
The Israeli vote will be the first national election since Hamas attacked Israel in late 2023. It comes as American opinion on Israel has shifted. U.S. public support, historically strong among both Republicans and Democrats, has fallen sharply. Debate in the United States has intensified over the Netanyahu-led government's response to the Hamas attack.
Vance himself has acknowledged the erosion of Israel's standing. In June, he said Israel had almost no friends left in the world and should think hard before turning on the one it has.
Set beside his refusal to back Netanyahu now, that comment suggests the administration isn't speaking with one voice about how closely Washington should tie itself to the Israeli prime minister's political fortunes. Trump's praise frames the relationship in terms of personal partnership and the confrontation with Iran. Vance's answer treats the Israeli election as someone else's business.
Neither man addressed, in the remarks reported here, the broader question driving the American debate: how the Israeli government's conduct since the Hamas attack should shape U.S. support.
Why This Matters:
When a president and vice president give different answers about a foreign leader's reelection, voters and allies are left guessing where U.S. policy actually stands. Israel's election will be the first national vote since the Hamas attack in late 2023, and its result will shape how a government accountable to its own citizens answers for its response. Support for Israel has fallen sharply among Americans of both parties, yet the administration is sending mixed signals about how closely it wants to be associated with the man at the center of that debate. Foreign partnerships sustained by personal praise, rather than clear and consistent policy, are harder for the public and Congress to scrutinize. Americans deserve to know whether U.S. backing rests on shared goals and accountability, or on loyalty between leaders.
- jd vance
- benjamin netanyahu
- donald trump
- israeli election
- u.s.-israel relations
- viktor orban
- hamas attack