US Vice President JD Vance pushed back Wednesday against assertions that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in a heated confrontation regarding claims Vance made during an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast.
In that interview, Vance alleged that specific factions inside the Israeli government funded an effort to derail diplomatic negotiations and a potential cease-fire agreement with Tehran.
Appearing Wednesday on Fox News with host Laura Ingraham, Vance was asked to address an Axios report indicating that Netanyahu directly challenged him at Blair House during the Prime Minister's recent visit to Washington, D.C.
“He didn't confront me. We had a nice and frank conversation," Vance stated, clarifying the interaction.
“As I've said repeatedly, Israel has been a great partner. They're an ally of the United States of America. But like France or Britain or any other ally of the United States of America, we sometimes have differences of opinion," the Vice President noted.
He further elaborated on the dynamic, “And I think that the American media is fascinated by this dynamic, but the simple reality is my job is to pursue the interests of no other nation on Earth except for the United States of America. So when our interests are aligned with Israel, we talk about how to accomplish those shared objectives. When my viewpoint is averse to the Prime Minister of Israel, we have a frank conversation about that."
Summarizing the nature of their meeting, Vance described it as “a pleasant but direct conversation. I didn't feel confronted."
Netanyahu addressed the reported tension in an interview with ABC News recorded while he was in Washington, rejecting Vance's podcast claims.
"Well, we're not actually. I had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning, and I think we straightened that out because we're not. That's not our policy," the Prime Minister emphasized.