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JD Vance Says US, Israel Sometimes Have ‘Distinct Interests,’ Underscores Importance of Avoiding War With Iran
Then-US Senate candidate JD Vance, now the 2024 Republican vice-presidential nominee, speaks as GOP presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump smiles at a rally, in Dayton, Ohio, US, Nov. 7, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
US vice presidential nominee JD Vance has appeared to temper a potential Trump administration’s support for Israel during a recent interview, arguing that the US and Jewish state can at times have conflicting interests and warning that Washington should seek to avoid a war with Iran, the Jewish state’s chief adversary in the Middle East.
During the nearly hour-and-a-half interview with podcaster Tim Dillon, Vance stated that although he believes Israel has the right to defend itself from threats, there are instances in which the Jewish state’s military goals could conflict with US interests.
“Israel has the right to defend itself, but America’s interest is sometimes going to be distinct — like sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests and sometimes we’re going to have distinct interests, and our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran,” Vance said.
The Republican senator from Ohio argued that a war between Iran and the US would be a significant resource drain on the American military.
“It would be [a] huge distraction of resources; it would be massively expensive to our country,” Vance said.
US intelligence agencies have for years labeled Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, noting it devotes significant sums of money and weapons each year to supporting proxies across the Middle East such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Reflecting on Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel last year, Vance said that he and his wife felt “worried” for their personal friends who live in the Jewish state. The senator then claimed that many American supporters of Israel “were actually much more militaristic than the Israelis that were actually living in Israel” following the Hamas atrocities and suggested that, in the immediate aftermath of the onslaught, American allies of the Jewish state expressed enthusiasm to prosecute wars against Iran and Russia.
“We just have to be smarter, right? We have to be smarter. Now, I don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. And, I think we should be, like, strongly encouraging the Iranians, and using all the influence we have, to encourage them to not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
The senator underscored the importance of engaging in “smart diplomacy” to advance US interests without using military force. Vance used the Abraham Accords — a series of historic, US-brokered normalization agreements struck between Israel and several countries in the Arab world when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was in the White House — as examples of how the US government should secure peace between the Jewish state and its neighbors.
Vance’s comments raised eyebrows among many pro-Israel supporters on social media, with some arguing that the senator undermined the Trump campaign’s attempts to frame the former president as more supportive of the Jewish state than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In the months leading up to the election, Trump has aggressively courted Jewish voters, touting his administration’s previous work on the Abraham Accords and close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has also stated that his administration would deport non-American residents who participate in violent anti-Israel protests.
The post JD Vance Says US, Israel Sometimes Have ‘Distinct Interests,’ Underscores Importance of Avoiding War With Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.