Danon rejects accusations Israel to blame for Iran war, rising oil prices

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon pushed back on Wednesday against attempts to blame Israel for the Iran war and rising oil prices, after U.S. Vice President JD Vance cited the conflict and U.S.-Israel relations in explaining Republican losses in the midterm elections.

“I think it’s unfortunate that many made the link between rising prices, mainly oil prices, and the situation here in Israel,” Danon told i24NEWS. “The decision to attack Iran was the decision of the United States. It wasn’t our decision. We supported the U.S. effort, and we think it was the right decision.”

“It’s very easy to always blame Israel for everything, but that is not the case,” he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his handling of the war, saying he would not change his approach despite the Republican electoral losses.

“As far as that war is concerned, I would have done nothing different,” Trump said. “We’ve totally broken their military, their navy’s gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone.”

Vance wrote on social media on Wednesday that the war, cost-of-living concerns and the U.S. relationship with Israel were among the main reasons Republicans lost the midterms. He cited a conversation with a pollster who asked disaffected Republicans why they were voting for Democrats.

“The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were: end the war, focus on cost of living/inflation, put America first and change our relationship to Israel,” Vance wrote. “Our voters showed up, and the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats.”

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” he added.

Republicans suffered a rout in Tuesday’s midterm elections, losing control of the Senate as Democrats flipped seats in GOP strongholds including Texas and Kansas.