Vice President JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, to discuss American-Israeli partnership, and next steps for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“These days of destiny” are what Vance and Netanyahu are calling this stage of the Gaza peace plan, hinting at the massive undertaking that must happen to “disarm Hamas” and “rebuild Gaza.”
“We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel,” Vance said.
Both leaders also commented on suggestions that either Israel controls the United States — or that the United States controls Israel. Netanyahu called the assumption “hogwash” and reaffirmed that both the United States and Israel are committed to a “partnership” even if they have “disagreements, here and there.”
“We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values, common goals. We can have discussions,” he said. “We can have disagreements here and there. But on the whole, I have to say that in the past year, we’ve had agreement.”
Vance added to the prime minister’s comments, saying that Israel is not a client or vassal state, but is still committing to the partnership between the United States and Israel. He added that he sees Israel playing a leadership role in the Middle East and North Africa, so that “the United States can care less about the Middle East.”
Vance said he remains hopeful that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire will hold, but said that there will be a lot of work ahead.
“It’s not easy. I never said it was easy, but what I am is optimistic that the cease fire is going to hold and that we can actually build a better future in the entire Middle East,” Vance said.
-ABC News’ Alex Ederson and Somayeh Malekian
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