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Republican Rep. Randy Fine (Fla.) criticized Vice President Vance on Friday morning over his stark warning to Israel during a White House press briefing on Thursday.
“I thought JD’s comments yesterday were absolutely inappropriate and frankly disgusting,” Fine said on conservative network Real America’s Voice.
Vance criticized Israel’s leadership for speaking out against the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by President Trump on Wednesday. The deal begins a 60-day period for peace deal negotiations, and brings a halt to hostilities, which is to include Lebanon.
“If 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,” Vance said.
Israel, which has been closely allied with the U.S. for decades, has carried out military actions targeting Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah since nearly the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a Friday morning statement that the Israel Defense Forces had struck Hezbollah “with force” on Thursday evening after a “heinous attack” from the militant group.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that a ceasefire with the U.S. is contingent on a halt in fighting between Israel and Lebanon.
“What the president has grown frustrated, sometimes, is that we seem to be right on the cusp of a major breakthrough in the agreement, and then all of a sudden there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut, and a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That’s not acceptable,” Vance said during his Thursday briefing.
Fine, who is Jewish, suggested Vance “would be wise to go back and learn his history.”
“The state of Israel was not created by the United States,” Fine said. “It is not funded by the United States, except in some small way. It was created in the blood and sweat and tears of the Jewish people rising out of the Holocaust.”
Vance’s comments also drew pushback from other conservatives, with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade saying he was “shocked” by the vice president’s criticism of Israel.
“I wish he would be that tough with Iran,” Kilmeade added.
Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich similarly questioned the administration’s criticism of Israeli leaders amid this conflict.
“Why is Israel getting blamed for trying to protect its citizens from hezbollah attacks?” he wrote in a social media post on Friday morning.
“Iran funds and arms hezbollah, encourages them to kill israelis in israel and then blames israel for defending its own citizens,” he continued. “We should be focusing our anger on the iranian dictatorship not on a democracy fighting to protect its citizens.”
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