Vice President JD Vance\u00a0ripped\u00a0Israeli officials who have criticized President Trump over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, blasting them for complaining about the document that requires them to stop striking Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Vance told reporters in the White House briefing room Thursday that\u00a0Israeli cabinet members had, in some cases, \u201cvery personally attacked the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,\u201d he added, pointedly.<\/p>\n
President Trump signed the US-Iran memorandum of understanding on Wednesday at Versailles. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be the head of state of the world\u2019s superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last three months, two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars,\u201d Vance went on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s signing the\u00a0truce with Iran\u00a0<\/a>on Wednesday evening ignited a political firestorm in Israel, with some commentators branding it\u00a0\u201ca catastrophic capitulation\u201d and \u201ca betrayal\u201d of Israeli security interests by Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli told The Post he agreed \u201cIsrael has never had, and it is doubtful it will ever have, a better friend in the White House than Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n But he also explained that \u201cno country has more at stake in a nuclear-capable Iran than Israel, which has absorbed heavy barrages of ballistic missiles on its territory and has been attacked by three Iranian proxy terror armies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor Israel, this is not a policy debate. It is an existential issue,\u201d\u00a0Chikli added.<\/p>\n The memorandum of understanding (MOU) does not commit Iran to any tangible steps toward denuclearization, but only opens a 60-day\u00a0negotiation window that US officials hope will lead to a deal achieving that outcome.<\/p>\n The MOU also calls for a unilaterally declared cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and takes no action to limit Iran\u2019s ballistic missile stockpile.<\/p>\n \u201cThe murderous thugs of Tehran are not like any other state in the region,\u201d Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told NRB TV\u2019s \u201cWashington Watch with Tony Perkins\u201d on Thursday. \u201cIf they have ballistic missiles, they\u2019re going to use them on their neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance warned Israelis against \u201cattacking the only powerful ally that I have.\u201d AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin<\/p>\n \u201cTehran is not like any other state in the region. They\u2019re not like any other state altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the US has waived sanctions on Iranian oil and lifted a naval blockade on its ports \u2014 gifting Tehran a desperately needed cash flow even before the first round of nuclear negotiations has begun.<\/p>\n \u201cMy private view is that the Americans paid with cash and got [a] letter of intent with many ambiguities and business,\u201d former Israeli National Security Adviser Major Gen. Yaakov Amidror told The Post. \u201cWhen you pay cash, you expect to get something \u2014 and here the Americans didn\u2019t get anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America fellow agreed with Vance that Israeli officials should not lob personal attacks against Trump, while emphasizing that the Jewish state has other friends.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can criticize the agreement to make everyone understand why you criticize the agreement, put all your argument on the table, but don\u2019t go personal,\u201d Amidror said. \u201cThe fact that America is so important for Israel should not lead us to make mistakes that will not allow us to defend Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Chikli, meanwhile, expressed concern that the Iranian regime would use the money to sponsor more proxies in the region, as Tehran has \u201cspent decades funding terror, threatening Israel\u2019s destruction, deceiving the world, and crushing its own people.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran attacked Israel over the weekend in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, threatening the US-Iran MOU just before it was signed.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery dollar flowing back into Tehran fuels instability across the Middle East. Any deal must be judged by actions, not promises,\u201d he said. \u201cAny deal must be judged by actions, not promises.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUntil Iran\u2019s nuclear program and terror networks are dismantled, maximum pressure remains the only responsible path.\u201d<\/p>\n The US has a right to do what it wants, Amidror said \u2014 but in reference to the conflict with Hezbollah, Israel should \u201cnot abandon its ability to defend itself because America wants it.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel has refused Iran\u2019s demand that it withdraw forces from Lebanon, where troops have been staged in the south for weeks hunting terrorists.<\/p>\n Some in the Iranian regime suggested behind closed doors that they could postpone signing the MOU until Israel pulls back, two regional sources told The Post, but cooler heads ultimately prevailed.<\/p>\n Still, critics worry those cooler heads are unreliable.<\/p>\n The US-Iran memorandum of understanding does not cement Israel\u2019s prime security concerns: Iranian ballistic missiles and a completely denuclearized Iran. Iranian Presidency Office via AP<\/p>\n \u201c[Tehran] wants the world to\u00a0guarantee that no one will attack Iran<\/a>,\u201d said\u00a0Beni Sabti, an Iranian and an Iran expert from Tel Aviv University\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies. \u201cIt\u2019s a very bad deal for the West, very good deal for Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel is due to hold parliamentary elections by late October, placing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an increasingly uncomfortable position as he seeks another term while navigating a rapidly shifting relationship with the White House.<\/p>\n