U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s team is trying to block a planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, senior Israeli officials said. They indicated the effort is aimed at preventing Netanyahu from pressuring Trump to adopt a harder line on Iran.
Sources close to Vance at the White House view a Netanyahu-Trump meeting as an attempt to push Trump into a tougher stance on Iran and are actively working to obstruct it, the officials noted. While insisting that the relationship between the two leaders is much better than publicly portrayed, they suggested that some of the friction amounts to a "stage fight."
Amid these developments, Aryeh Lightstone, an adviser to Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, is expected to meet with Netanyahu to set a possible schedule for a meeting. Netanyahu, who plans to travel to the U.S. on July 27 to attend the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, is said to be avoiding a trip to Washington unless a meeting with Trump is guaranteed.
Vance’s statements on Israel
In a statement on July 16, Vice President J.D. Vance said that during the election period, individuals funded by the Israeli government attacked him because Trump was trying to achieve his negotiation goal. Vance noted that Israel is more effective than most countries at influencing U.S. politics.
Vance said he told his attackers, "You have a long way to hell," and stated that some Israeli officials are uncomfortable with the peace talks between Iran and the U.S. He added that there is much discussion about how much the Israeli government influences American politics and that some in the government hate the deal.
