Vice President JD Vance is taking flak from conservatives after criticizing Israeli opposition to President Trump’s deal with Iran.
Vance was asked at a news conference Thursday about reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was angry over the deal, which provides Iran with several major concessions. Vance said that he hadn’t heard Netanyahu offer any criticism, but he had words for Israeli Cabinet ministers attacking Trump and the deal.
“My message to them would be twofold. No. 1: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.“
Vance added that two-thirds of the weapons that Israel has “have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.”
“The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump, and 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 that country is in,” Vance said.
VIDEO: Vice president Vance in a message to to Israeli cabinet members:
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have left
2/3 of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by… https://t.co/asCV1nwUNr pic.twitter.com/DNA42AdgNp
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 18, 2026
That was enough to set off the MAGA base, including Republicans in Congress.
Hard-right Representative Randy Fine, known for his bigotry against Muslims, called Vance’s comments “absolutely inappropriate and frankly disgusting” in an interview on Real America’s Voice Friday morning.
“The state of Israel was not created by the United States; it is not funded by the United States, except in some small way. It was created in the blood and sweat and tears of the Jewish people arising out of the Holocaust,” the Florida congressman said. “The United States didn’t support Israel in its formation: In fact, there were times when it put arms embargos in place, and JD Vance would be wise to go back and learn his history. I think his comments … were completely out of line.”
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade also expressed his dismay at the vice president Friday.
“If the cartels were lobbing rockets into Texas from Mexico, we would not allow that, even if Israel asked us to, and I think that I was a little surprised that the vice president was going after Israel yesterday at the podium more than he was going after Iran,” Kilmeade said.
NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon said Thursday that “JD Vance is out there criticizing Israel, making up fantasies about how it is Israel’s fault and Israel wants Iran to be failed state, and if only Israel would lay down its arms and allow Hezbollah to keep attacking it, there would be peace in the Middle East.
“It is disgusting, it is the complete Tucker Carlsonificiation of the vice president of the United States, and it is utterly deplorable. The only good thing I can say about it is if this was a dry run for Vance 2028, we sure learned a lot,” Ungar-Sargon said.
Vance also told The New York Times earlier Thursday that his response to Israeli opponents of the deal “would be: 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.”
The backlash to Vance reveals that many conservatives want Israel to have a blank check regardless of U.S. interests. Vance is also getting off easy compared to Democrats, who are called antisemites for anything resembling criticism of Israel, as Abby Phillip pointed out on CNN Thursday. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and continues to kill civilians in Lebanon, trying to prevent any checks on its actions and block any hope of peace.
Vance’s words may be self-serving to protect the Trump administration from political fallout over a protracted war with Iran, but his criticism of Israel doesn’t even go far enough, letting it off the hook for its ongoing genocide. Conservatives should realize that Israel trying to dictate U.S. foreign policy is bad for Republicans politically, and bad for America and global peace overall.
