Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the growing anti-Israel faction in the American Right on Sunday and answered Vice President JD Vance’s comment that the United States is Israel’s only powerful friend.
In an interview on Fox News‘s The Sunday Briefing, Netanyahu pushed back against critics of Israel in the U.S., framing the Democratic Party as the biggest problem but pointing to the growing problem of what he called the “woke Right,” a term usually confined to online spaces.
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“It concerns me that there’s that element of anti-Israel, first of all, in the Democratic Party, and then the ‘woke Right,'” he said. “I’m concerned with that, and to the extent that we can do something to mend it, obviously I’ll do it, but I find that there’s something unique about these attacks, and that something is that the people who hate Israel end up hating America.”
Netanyahu pointed to patterns at pro and anti-Israel protests, where those against Israel often burn the American flag, and those in favor happily wave the American flag.
“I think there’s a process taking place inside America … of questioning America’s traditional values and going to many places that I think challenge our, not only our lives, but they challenge the traditional values that form the basis of each of our countries, and I hope that’s not something that is going to proceed. I hope America changes direction. That’s really what I hope to see,” he said.
Netanyahu also pushed back against Vance’s limited criticism of Israel, disagreeing with his comment that the U.S. was Jerusalem’s only powerful ally.
“First of all, I respect JD Vance. We have a very good relationship, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything that he says, and I have to point out this: Donald Trump is great, the greatest friend we ever had in the White House, and I stand by that completely. Secondly, we have some other friends, like a small country called India, you know, it has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have a tremendous support there,” he said.
Netanyahu pointed to his Facebook account, which is “flooded” with comments of support from India. He claimed criticism of Israel had only become “fashionable” due to media and social media becoming “inundated with anti-Israel, antisemitic material.” In reality, world leaders were secretly reaching out for military and technological cooperation, he claimed.
“Many leaders call me up and say, ‘Hey, look, I’ve got this problem with public opinion, but I want you to know we respect you. And can we make some deals? And can you teach us some of the things that your military does? And can we have some of your AI and cyber expertise?” he said.
UAE BOOSTS TIES WITH ISRAEL TO SHORE UP ANTI-DRONE DEFENSES
“The relations are not quite as they appear, and we have … many, many friends,” Netanyahu added.
One of the countries Netanyahu was probably alluding to was the United Arab Emirates, which has shored up its relationship with Israel in the wake of the war with Iran but publicly denies its biggest overtures.
