Vance declines to offer endorsement in Netanyahu election

Vice President Vance said he was “not getting involved” on Monday when asked if he endorses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection.

“I’m not anti-endorsing him. I’m not pro-endorsing him,” he said during an interview on 2WAY Tonight with Mark Halperin on Air Force Two.

The question came after President Trump endorsed Netanyahu on Sunday in a Truth Social post addressed to “the Great People of Israel.” He called “Bibi” Netanyahu “a Great Warrior Prime Minister.”

“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump wrote.

Netanyahu took to the social platform X on Sunday to thank the president for his endorsement. “Israel has never had a greater friend in the White House. Together we will never let Iran’s regime get nuclear weapons. Thank you for your clarity, courage and unwavering support,” he said.

Earlier this year , Vance acknowledged divergent U.S. and Israeli interests regarding the Middle East.

He was responding to a question about Israeli espionage in the U.S. and Fox News’s Jesse Watters’s description of Israel “freelancing in Lebanon.”

“The Israelis and I, excuse me, the Israelis and the United States, we have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge,” Vance said.

The vice president on Monday said he is more focused on U.S. elections. “I endorse American candidates,” he added.