U.S. Vice President JD Vance drew criticism for his tempered response at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday, during which a student said that Jews persecute Christians.
“I’m a Christian man, and I’m confused why there’s this notion that we owe Israel something or that they’re our greatest ally,” the student said.
Vance told the questioner that the U.S. partnership with Israel serves national interests. “When the president of the United States says ‘America first,’ that means that he pursues the interests of Americans first,” he said. He added that U.S. pressure on Israel is “why they’ve had success in the Middle East.”
Vance also talked about religious differences. “Jews do not believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah. Obviously, Christians do. There are some significant theological disagreements,” he said. “But if there are shared areas of interest, we ought to be willing to do that, too.”
He added that Israeli protection of Christian holy sites is also “an obvious area of common interest.”
“Vance’s answers yesterday were despicable. I’m not sure why Jews are praising him,” stated the conservative writer David Harsanyi.
“He let a questioner’s vile smears against American Jews go completely unchallenged, only assuring him that Trump didn’t let Israel pull the U.S. into a world war, as if that’s what it wanted,” he said.
“Imagine some dopey kid going off on how the pope secretly pays off all U.S. politicians to create open border policy and illegal invasions, and then the vice president tells him not to worry, the president has dashed the pope’s plans,” he added.
