Vice President JD Vance declined to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for re-election on Monday, saying he intends to stay out of Israel’s election despite President Trump’s public backing for Netanyahu the day before. I am not getting involved in the Israeli elections, Vance said in an interview on Mark Halperin’s 2WAY Tonight. I am not anti-endorsing him; I am not pro-endorsing him.
Vance said the president has the most effective endorsement in American or international political history, and that his own focus is on American candidates ahead of the November midterms. He also reiterated that he has not decided whether to run for president in 2028, while saying he believes Trump would endorse him at the start if he did.
Trump’s endorsement, published Sunday, called Netanyahu strong, brave and brilliant and said that if Israel had any other leader, America would have to do the work itself. That endorsement was covered as a full story on this site on October 18. Vance’s refusal is narrower than opposition: he has intervened in a foreign election before, travelling to Hungary this year to campaign for Viktor Orban, who lost. Against that record, staying out of the Israeli race, with the election eight days away on October 27, reads as a deliberate choice to keep distance from a contest whose outcome Washington’s endorsement may not decide.