Netanyahu pushes back on Vance’s claims that US is Israel’s ‘only powerful ally’

JTA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected US Vice-President JD Vance’s recent claims that the United States is Israel’s “only powerful ally” left in the world. 

When asked on Fox News on Sunday what his reaction was to Vance’s remarks, which came as Israeli ministers criticised the framework deal signed by the US and Iran to end hostilities, Netanyahu replied, “I respect JD Vance. We have a very good relationship, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything that he says. 

“I have to point out this: Donald Trump is a great, the greatest friend we ever had in the White House, and I stand by that completely,” Netanyahu continued. “Secondly, we have some other friends, like a small country called India, you know, it has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there.” 

Netanyahu added that Israel also has the support of “many others”, but did not elaborate on which countries he was referring to. 

“The relations are not quite as they appear, and we have many, many friends, and I have to tell you, we also take care of our friends, especially the Christians in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said. 

The prime minister also dismissed the claim that there was any rift between the United States and Israel regarding the deal with Iran, telling Fox News that he and Trump were “set on the same goal”. 

“President Trump is the leader of the United States. He does what’s good for America. I’m the leader of Israel, the one and only Jewish State. I do what’s good for Israel,” Netanyahu said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, we see eye to eye, but as any, in any family, in any close friendship, there are sometimes differences of opinion, and we discuss them openly.” 

Netanyahu also said that he and Trump have “common objectives” regarding the US deal with Iran. 

“We want to see Iran give up its nuclear weapons programme. We want to see the nuclear-enriched material removed. We want to see the enrichment sites for nuclear material dismantled,” Netanyahu said, adding, “As long as I’m prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.” 

On Saturday, Trump told Axios that Netanyahu had requested a meeting at the White House and said the get along well and that the Israeli leader “knows who the boss is”.