Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday pushed back against US Vice-President JD Vance’s assertion that the United States is Israel’s “only” powerful ally, pointing instead to India as one of the country’s strongest international supporters.In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said he respected Vance but disagreed with his assessment, arguing that Israel continues to enjoy backing from several countries.“First of all, I respect JD Vance, we have a very good relationship, but it doesn’t mean that I agree with everything that he says, and I have to point out this, Donald Trump is a great, the greatest friend we ever had in the White House, and I stand by that completely,” Netanyahu said.He then singled out India while responding to Vance’s remarks.“Secondly, we have some other friends, like India, you know, it has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have a tremendous support there. You know, I have this Facebook thing, and I’m just flooded by the overwhelming support there,” Netanyahu said.The Israeli leader added that many governments privately continued to back Israel despite facing domestic political pressure.Netanyahu’s comments were a direct response to remarks made by Vance in June while defending President Donald Trump’s Iran policy amid criticism from some Israeli ministers.“My message to them would be twofold. No 1: Donald 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,” Vance had said.He also warned members of Netanyahu’s cabinet against publicly criticising Washington, saying: “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.”The exchange comes ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, where he is set to meet Trump at the White House. The meeting, expected in the coming weeks, follows reports of differences between the two leaders over Iran and Israel’s military operations in Lebanon.
