Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former ambassador to the US, stated that the public criticism leveled by US Vice President JD Vance against Israel—accusing it of obstructing US negotiations with Iran—is “unprecedented in its intensity.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Pinkas—currently a columnist for The New Republic—said, “Never before has a sitting US Vice President publicly accused Israel of campaigning to undermine US policy.”
He noted that while there have been disagreements and tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv in the past, “for a sitting Vice President to criticize Israel’s lobbying efforts in the US in such clear, harsh, and public terms is truly unprecedented. It is quite astonishing.”
According to Pinkas, this incident makes it clear that the US and Israel are not currently aligned.
He added that the growing divergence between the two allies regarding the conflict with Iran is deeply concerning from Israel’s perspective and signals a “structural shift” in the relationship between the two nations.
