Vance declines to endorse Netanyahu’s reelection bid, breaking with Trump

Vance declines to endorse Netanyahu’s reelection bid, breaking with Trump

Vice President JD Vance on Monday declined to say whether he endorses Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection, after President Donald Trump recently threw his support behind the Israeli prime minister.

“I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on is the midterm,” Vance said in an interview with journalist Mark Halperin aboard Air Force Two. “I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections.”

Yet, Vance traveled to Budapest, Hungary, earlier this year to support Trump-endorsed Victor Orbán ahead of his election, which the longtime prime minister lost.

Vance said he wasn’t for or against endorsing Netanyahu.

“I’m not anti-endorsing him. I’m not pro-endorsing him. I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections,” Vance said.

But Trump gave his full-throated endorsement Saturday for Netanyahu, calling him a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” in a post on social media.

Vance’s apparent break from Trump in declining to endorse the prime minister comes just days before Israel’s election and as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth traveled to Israel in an unannounced trip, according to two sources familiar and a US official.

Hegseth met Monday evening with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, according to an Israeli source familiar with the details and another source familiar.