Netanyahu names India as key ally after Vance says Israel has 'only one powerful friend' left

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pushed back against the US Vice President, JD Vance's, remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday Briefing, days after Vance publicly urged Israel to support Washington's peace deal with Iran rather than attack it. Netanyahu's response carried a measure of sarcasm. "We have some other friends, like a small country called India. It has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there," he said.

He acknowledged a good working relationship with Vance but was clear that it did not require agreement on every issue. "He and I have a very good relationship, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything he says," Netanyahu said.

On his relationship with President Trump, Netanyahu was equally direct, dismissing any suggestion of a rift. "I don't think there's a rift between us," he said, calling Trump "the greatest friend we ever had in the White House."

What Vance actually said

The exchange was triggered by unusually blunt remarks from Vance at a White House press briefing and in a subsequent interview with The New York Times. The Vice President questioned Israel's military strategy, defended Washington's diplomatic outreach to Iran and issued what amounted to a warning to Israeli leadership.

"My message to them would be twofold. No. 1: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time," Vance said. He added: "If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world."

He also challenged what he described as Israel's over-reliance on military solutions. "What is your exact proposal? You're a country of 9 million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have," Vance said. He reminded Israeli leaders that two-thirds of Israel's defensive weapons had been "built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars."

The Iran deal divide

Vance defended the US-Iran memorandum of understanding as a framework designed to end months of conflict, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and build toward broader regional negotiations. He argued that any Israeli leader who sees Trump as the problem "needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in."

Netanyahu, for his part, pointed to broader international support that he said was not always visible in public discourse. "This Facebook thing, and I'm just flooded by these, by the overwhelming support there, and we have many others. Many leaders call me up and say, hey, look, I've got this problem with public opinion, but I want you to know we respect you," he said.

He added that countries regularly sought Israeli expertise in military technology, artificial intelligence and cyber capabilities. "You know Israel is the number two country in cyber in the world, and our technology is so good. So the relations are not quite as they appear."