Vance says he’s not in Israel to monitor Gaza ceasefire like ‘a toddler’
Vice President JD Vance stressed Wednesday that U.S. officials were not seeking to monitor the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and that Israel was a partner, not a “vassal state,” as questions arose about next steps in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has hosted a series of senior U.S. officials in recent days, exchanged words of friendship and optimism with Vance at a joint news conference in Jerusalem as Washington worked to ensure the truce negotiated by President Donald Trump would remain in place.
“I never said it was easy, but I am optimistic that the ceasefire will hold and that we can actually build a better future across the entire Middle East,” Vance said, speaking alongside Netanyahu.
The vice president’s visit follows the arrival of Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to follow on Thursday and meet with Netanyahu on Friday, the Israeli government said.
The vice president and the Israeli leader defended each other in their efforts to secure the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on October 10.
But as a succession of U.S. officials flocked to Israel this week after outbreaks of violence threatened to undermine the ceasefire, Vance also appeared to seek to reassure the Israeli leader — and the world — that the United States was not seeking to overstep.
“We don’t want a vassal state and that’s not what Israel is. We don’t want a client state,” he said. “We want a partnership.”
He then clarified the American role in Israel this week, as the ceasefire looked fragile and the path to the deal’s second phase seemed uncertain.
It wasn’t about “monitoring in the sense that, you know, you’re watching a toddler. It’s about monitoring in the sense that there’s a lot of work, a lot of good people doing this work and it’s important that the principles of administration continue to ensure that our people are doing what we expect them to do,” Vance said.
The proposed international security force in Gaza appears to be a major question mark, with some in Israel fearing that such a force could limit its freedom to act in Gaza in the future.
Trump said in an article on Truth Social on Tuesday that “many of our NOW MAJOR ALLIES in the Middle East and regions surrounding the Middle East” had “explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to enter GAZA with heavy force.”
He added that he had “said to these countries, and to Israel, ‘NOT AGAIN,'” but warned that if Hamas did not “do what is right” or if it violated the ceasefire agreement, the militant group could meet a “FAST, FURRY and BRUTAL” end.
The president did not directly reference the international security force he plans to enter Gaza to help maintain peace in the territory in the future as part of his 20-point plan, but appeared to reference the initiative.
Vance had said Tuesday that the international stabilization force envisioned by the president was still in the early planning stages, acknowledging that coordinating troops from different countries could be a difficult task.
