Vance and Netanyahu meet to push Gaza ceasefire agreement forward

US Vice President JD Vance meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Nathan Howard/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

As top US officials and envoys visit Israel this week to try to bolster the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Vice President JD Vance sought to publicly ease concerns within Israel that the Trump administration was dictating terms to its closest ally in the region.

“We don’t want in Israel a vassal state, and that’s not what Israel is. We want a partnership, we want an ally,” Mr Vance said beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a reporter’s question about whether Israel was becoming a “protectorate” of the US.