US Vice President JD Vance accused "certain elements within the Israeli government" of financing a campaign whose participants attacked him over the Trump administration's negotiations with Iran.
Speaking during an interview on Joe Rogan's podcast, Vance claimed that a "very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign" had sought to derail negotiations and a ceasefire agreement.
Vance cited a TIME report that examined a digital campaign run by Brad Parscale, a former Trump campaign manager, whose firm Clock Tower X was hired by global advertising agency Havas to conduct a campaign on behalf of the State of Israel.
According to Foreign Agents Registration Act filings reviewed by TIME, Israel agreed to pay Clock Tower X $1.5 million per month. The campaign was intended to produce online content aimed primarily at younger audiences and amplify messaging through social media and other digital channels.
TIME reported that three people familiar with the operation described a network in which conservative influencers received suggested language through private group chats and were compensated according to the reach and engagement generated by their content.
Parscale denied that money from the Israel contract was used to pay influencers and rejected allegations that he had sought to undermine President Donald Trump's policies.
Vance, however, described the report differently.
"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. He alleged that those individuals were "attacking me viciously for quite literally trying to accomplish the negotiation objective that the president set for the country."
Asked by Rogan how he was being attacked, Vance pointed to social media posts and leaks to reporters.
"They're attacking me obsessively, saying that we should not be negotiating with Iran. We should just keep the military campaign going indefinitely," he said.
Vance said critics had accused him of being influenced by Qatar and other foreign governments and of taking "marching orders from Tucker Carlson."
He stressed that he did not object to Israeli officials criticizing or attempting to influence US policy, but said he objected when American leaders allowed such influence to shape their positions.
"When I open up the pages of Time Magazine and I see that there's a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing, and, oh, by the way, many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways, you know, my response to that is, well, go to hell," Vance said.
"I'm going to do what I have to do for the American people. I represent Americans first."
TIME reported that some US officials believed an Israeli effort intended to maintain support among young conservatives had come into conflict with Trump's attempts to end the war with Iran. The report quoted a senior US intelligence official who alleged that American influencers were being paid by a foreign country and seeking to influence the President or people around him.
Parscale denied coordinating such an effort and said his contract with Israel did not influence independent commentators or Salem Media hosts.
In a separate portion of the Rogan interview, Vance also claimed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had connections to Israeli intelligence.
"He clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence," Vance stated.
He then used the Epstein case to distinguish between different political elements in Israel, saying that he is "always careful" to specify that only some elements of the Israeli government oppose the administration's peace efforts.
"There are a lot of elements within the Israeli government that actually do like our peace process," he said.
Vance went on to claim that Epstein "seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center."
"I've always found that fascinating," Vance said. "It wasn't like he was super connected to the right of center of Israeli politics."