US Vice President JD Vance has accused “certain elements” within the Israeli government of trying to manipulate American public opinion to prolong the conflict with Iran indefinitely. Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Vance claimed some individuals in Israel were pushing to keep the war going without a clear strategic objective, marking one of the sharpest public criticisms of Israel from a senior Trump administration official.
“There are some people within their system, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely.” He added, “Not toward any objective, but just indefinitely.”
Vance hits out at Israel
According to the Wall Street Journal, Vance‘s remarks mark an escalation in the increasingly public differences between Washington and its closest Middle Eastern ally [Israel]. The newspaper reported that Vance, who helped negotiate last month’s ceasefire with Iran, alleged that some in Israel were seeking to undermine diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Referring to reports about an Israeli-backed campaign aimed at strengthening US support for the war, Vance said he had seen “a literal foreign influence campaign” intended to derail the agreement he was pursuing.
“When I open up the pages of Time magazine, and I see that there’s a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing, and, oh, by the way, many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways. You know, my response to that is, ‘Well, go to hell,'” he said.
“I’m going to do what I have to do for the American people. I represent Americans first,” Vance added.
(With agency inputs)