Netanyahu confronted JD Vance over his criticism of Israel on US trip, says report

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confronted vice president JD Vance over his criticism of Israel during a recent trip to the US, according to a new report. Netanyahu made his seventh state visit to the US this week to attend the funeral of his close friend Lindsey Graham and had meetings with President Donald Trump, defence secretary Pete Hegseth and Vance. The vice president has been the most vocal critic of Israel in the Trump administration and recently accused the country of “trying to kill your way out of solving every single national security problem”. In a one-to-one meeting at Blair House in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu addressed his criticism in a “frank and candid conversation”, an Israeli official told Axios. A US official confirmed the nature of the discussion saying: “The conversation was direct.”The conversation was ‘frank and direct’ according to sources (Getty)A second US official told the publication that the talk was a “cordial and productive conversation about Middle East issues that are important to both countries.”They denied that the conversation was confrontational in nature and said: “The vice president and the prime minister agreed to continue pursuing opportunities for Israel and the United States to cooperate in areas of mutual interest and shared goals.”In June, Vance hit back at Israeli politicians who had attacked the US deal with Iran, saying: “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.”He suggested that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein had connections to the “highest levels of Israeli intelligence”, claims which Netanyahu and Israeli officials have consistently denied. Vance has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu (Reuters)Vance also told Joe Rogan earlier this month that he believed that Israeli politicians had been influencing the US to move away from diplomacy and continue with a more belligerent campaign against Iran. At the start of the war in March, reports suggested that Netanyahu and Vance held a tense phone call in which the vice president said that the Israeli leader’s predictions that Iran would capitulate were too optimistic. But last month, Vance reiterated the close relationship between the US and Israel saying that while Netanyahu has “certainly got some things wrong” he would still say that “he’s been a good partner”. "We're gonna keep on working together,” he told CBS. “But where interests diverge, the United States is gonna pursue the best interests of our nation, and that's how it's gonna be."The Independent has contacted JD Vance’s representatives and the White House for comment.