US Vice President J.D. Vance has accused some members of the Israeli government of trying to influence American public opinion against an agreement to end the war with Iran.
In his remarks in an interview with US podcaster Joe Rogan broadcast on Wednesday, Mr Vance delivered a rare and sharp criticism of one of Washington’s closest allies.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Vance defended the deal the US reached last month to end the war with Iran, adding: “We know without a doubt that there are people in the Israeli government who are actually trying to move us away from that policy because they want to continue military operations.”
Vance, seen by many as a potential future presidential candidate, has been critical of Israel amid a widening public rift between the two countries.
“There is literally a foreign influence campaign being funded to eviscerate the very deal I was pursuing,” Vance told Logan, citing a report published by Time magazine on Monday. The report said a former Trump campaign manager was hired on Israel’s behalf to run a digital campaign to influence US views on the Israel-Iran war.
“You’ve seen this very deliberate, very well-funded campaign to derail negotiations and derail the deal,” Vance said.
“We know without a shadow of a doubt that there are people within their system who are trying to manipulate and change American public opinion in order to continue the war indefinitely,” he added.
Al Jazeera’s Patti Culhane, reporting from Washington, D.C., said the Israel-related influence campaign Vance mentioned was likely “intended to influence President Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) base,” which is increasingly divided over U.S. policy toward Israel.
“This explains why Vance appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast,” Culhane said. “(Logan) is one of the most popular podcasters in the country and an important voice influencing the young people who make up the MAGA base.”
Influence campaigns ‘influence political decisions’
The US vice president also claimed that an Israel-related influence campaign targeted him personally over his diplomatic outreach to Iran.
“People are attacking me for literally trying to accomplish the negotiating goals that the president has set for this country,” he said.
Vance acknowledged that allies and adversaries alike try to influence U.S. policy, saying, “I don’t care that Israel tries to do that.”
But, he said, “What concerns me is that the actions that influence those operations and campaigns actually influence American political judgment.”
Vance has defended the interim peace agreement reached last month between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the war, but it faces significant opposition in Israel.
The agreement appears to have largely unraveled over last week’s escalation of attacks by the United States and Iran.
Asked if he believed the United States would have participated in the recent war with Iran without Israeli influence, Vance said, “Yes, I do.”
“I think the president believes very strongly that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, independent of any influence from Israel, and again, I agree with that,” Vance said.
Mr. Vance has previously criticized Israelis who criticize the Iran deal, and in June he criticized US President Donald Trump, citing billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel and calling him Israel’s only ally.
“It was pretty shocking.”
Former Israeli diplomat Aron Pincus said Vance’s recent comments are “unprecedented” and show that the United States and Israel are currently “not on the same page.”
“No sitting U.S. vice president has ever publicly accused Israel of waging a campaign to undermine U.S. policy,” Pincus, now a columnist for The New Republic, told Al Jazeera.
“We’ve had disagreements and friction in the past, but it’s truly unprecedented for a sitting vice president to so vocally, clearly and harshly oppose Israel’s use of influence over the United States,” Pincus said. “That’s pretty shocking.”
Al Jazeera’s Culhane also called Vance’s comments “unprecedented.”
Separately, Vance also addressed the controversy surrounding the late convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein, saying that Epstein had unspecified high-level ties to U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment on Vance’s remarks.
