The U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance, refused to support Netanyahu's re-election, claiming to be focused on the U.S. mid-term elections.
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20/10/2026
by
Lusa
O uS Vice President JD Vance today refused to support the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day after President Donald Trump expressed support for the Israeli leader, who faces political difficulties.
“The President has the most influential support in U.S. political history or international politics,” Vance said in an interview with journalist Mark Halperin, published today.
“ I support American candidates and it is in the mid-term elections that I am focused on. Therefore, I will not be involved in the Israeli elections,” Vance declared during a trip to campaign for Michael Whatley, a Republican candidate for the Senate by North Carolina.
Vance has campaigned for a foreign leader: then Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán last spring before the party of the ultranationalist leader lost the parliamentary elections in Hungary.
On Monday, Trump indicated that it foresees an “ overwhelming victory” of Netanyahu in the legislative elections of October 27.
“ I think you're gonna get an overwhelming win, really. So this is it: you are the man I want by my side, ‘Bibi’,” Trump said, according to a video released on social networks by Netanyahu’s office.
The conversation, with about a minute and a half and held on speaker, was marked by mutual praise, the day after Trump expressed support for the candidacy of the Israeli Prime Minister.
Vance's deference to Trump from Netanyahu, analyzes the Associated Press (AP) news agency, comes at a particularly sensitive time for American Jews and the United States alliance with Israel.
Concerns about anti-Semitism have increased throughout the political spectrum at a time when mid-term elections are approaching.
Republicans have sought to present the Democrats, in particular Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan's Senate candidate, as hostile to Jews and Israel, while facing internal divisions.
Vance has been the subject of skepticism by Republicans of Jewish origin as to his commitment to the American Jews and the United States alliance with Israel.
In September, Vance met privately in Las Vegas with the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), an important Republican Party organization that advocates strengthening relations between the United States and Israel and combating anti-Semitism.
Vance left a positive impression on the participants at the RJC meeting, without demarcating from the influential conservative of Tucker Carlson podcasts.
The U.S. Vice President has been questioned more generally about his relationship with Carlson, a former Fox News host, who was criticized last year for having interviewed in his podcast Nick Fuentes, known for his anti-Semitic positions.
In June he harshly criticized members of the Israeli Government for opposing Trump's efforts to end the war with Iran. In July, Vance stated that sectors of the Israeli Government had tried to influence American public opinion to make negotiations unfeasible.
“There are people within their system who know, without any doubt, that they are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to prolong the war indefinitely,” Vance said during a participation in Joe Rogan’s podcast, which is defined as “politically independent and libertarian,” although he supported Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race.