US Vice President JD Vance has said that Washington and Tel Aviv may not always see their interests align, remarks that come as President Donald Trump’s equation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a fresh strain over the Iran war, CBS reported.
The comments place renewed focus on the Trump administration’s handling of the West Asia conflict, where Israel remains one of Washington’s closest partners, but differences over strategy and national priorities have increasingly surfaced in public messaging.
Vance made the remarks in an exclusive interview with CBS, which is scheduled to air on June 14.
Speaking to Robert Costa for ‘CBS Sunday Morning’, Vance said Netanyahu leads a country that has long been a close partner of the United States, but that even close allies do not always move in the same direction.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu, look, he governs a country that has obviously been a very close partner of the United States. But, even when we’ve been close partners, sometimes we have interests that are perfectly aligned, and sometimes we have interests that are misaligned,” Vance said.
US will choose its own interests when views differ, says Vance
The US Vice President said Netanyahu “aggressively asserts the interests of his country”, but added that Trump has been clear about where American interests stand.
“Sometimes that means we’re on the same page and sometimes it means that we’re not,” Vance said.
He added that when the interests of the two sides do not match, Washington will have to act in line with what it believes is best for the United States.
“Where that diverges, we, unfortunately for the Israelis, have to choose the side of the American people, which we always do,” he said.
Vance says Netanyahu has ‘gotten some things wrong’
Asked whether Netanyahu had made mistakes in his approach to relations with the US, Vance said the Israeli Prime Minister had “certainly gotten some things wrong”.
He, however, declined to spell out what those issues were, saying such conversations were “better left in private”.
“But what I would say is that he’s been a good partner,” Vance added. “We’re gonna keep on working together. 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 remarks come after Trump, in recent weeks, expressed dissonance in his conversations with Netanyahu over the conflict in West Asia, Israel’s response and subsequent attacks.