In recent weeks, Vice President J.D. Vance took a break from holding down the couch in the Oval Office and actually formed a big-boy opinion, all on his own.
Unfortunately for him, that opinion was not well received by his real boss, Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to new reporting from Axios, Vance earned himself a stern talking-to in a private confrontation with the Israeli prime minister after the US vice president had the nerve to publicly criticize Israel's government. Officials with both the United States and the Israeli government have confirmed that the pair had a one-on-one meeting at Blair House, described as candid but "direct," following months of Vance's increasingly public disagreement with Netanyahu over US policies toward Iran.
In June, Vance publicly chastized Israeli officials for criticizing the agreement Trump had struck with Iran, stating that Israel essentially had no business "attacking the only powerful ally" that the country has "anywhere left in the entire world" -- implying that the US is all Netanyahu's got and he damn well better be grateful.
At the time of this statement, the Israeli prime minister publicly pushed back, stating that Israel has "many friends," effectively undermining Vance's implication that the US is an island of support for his country.
Vance would go on to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast, airing on July 15th, where he claimed that a sect of Israeli officials were trying hard to steer the United States away from a diplomatic agreement with Iran, gunning for ongoing conflict and chaos instead.
"I definitely think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal. And there was, again, there’s this Time article that came out yesterday — a friend sent it to me — it’s worth reading because it lists a bunch of people who have quite literally been paid by a former Trump campaign person, who was himself paid by certain elements within the Israeli government," Vance told Rogan last month.
In that same episode, Vance made the allegation that the infamous convicted and now-deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had significant ties to "the highest levels of Israeli intelligence."
One senior Israeli official confirmed that Netanyahu confronted Vance about his remarks in their closed-door meeting at Vance's home this week, describing the meeting as a "frank and candid conversation."
One US official echoed a similar sentiment, stating, "The conversation was direct."
According to officials on both sides of the fence, Netanyahu was increasingly frustrated with Vance's bold, public criticisms, including the vice president's pointed claim that the Israeli prime minister actually encouraged opposition against Donald Trump's now-defunct memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, and accusing Netanyahu of lacking sufficient loyalty and devotion to Donald Trump.
