Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Vice President JD Vance held a candid private meeting in Washington this week, using the face-to-face discussion to address growing tensions that have developed between them over Israel’s handling of the war and broader U.S.-Israel policy, according to American and Israeli officials, Axios reports.

The meeting, which took place Tuesday evening at Blair House, came after months of increasingly public disagreements. Vance has emerged as one of the most skeptical voices toward Netanyahu within President Donald Trump’s inner circle since the start of the war, becoming more critical of the Israeli prime minister as the conflict continued.

Vance also assumed a larger role in shaping U.S. policy on both the war and negotiations with Iran. He became one of the administration’s leading defenders of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, an agreement Netanyahu opposed privately while avoiding direct public criticism in hopes that it would eventually unravel. The agreement ultimately collapsed several weeks later.

Officials said friction between the two leaders had been building for months. Netanyahu was reportedly frustrated by Vance’s public remarks accusing him of encouraging opposition to the Iran agreement and questioning his loyalty to President Trump. At the same time, Netanyahu privately expressed dissatisfaction with Vance’s influence over U.S. policy during the war.

For his part, Vance believed Netanyahu’s political allies and supporters in pro-Netanyahu media outlets in both Israel and the United States were working to undermine him politically and launch attacks against him.

Tuesday’s meeting gave the two leaders an opportunity to address those disagreements directly.

According to a senior Israeli official, Netanyahu raised concerns with Vance about the vice president’s recent criticism of Israel’s government and his comments regarding Israel’s standing among Republican voters.

“It was a frank and candid conversation,” the Israeli official said.

A U.S. official confirmed that description, saying simply, “The conversation was direct.”

While Vance’s office declined to comment publicly, another U.S. official characterized the meeting in positive terms, saying the two leaders had a “cordial and productive conversation about Middle East issues that are important to both countries.”

“The Vice President and the Prime Minister agreed to continue pursuing opportunities for Israel and the United States to cooperate in areas of mutual interest and shared goals,” that person said, adding that the meeting was not confrontational and that Vance and Netanyahu have a productive working relationship.

The private discussion followed several months of increasingly strained exchanges. During a phone call in March, Vance reportedly challenged Netanyahu over what he viewed as overly optimistic assessments of the war, particularly predictions that the Iranian regime could be toppled by a popular uprising.

Since the April 8 ceasefire, Vance has become the administration’s most vocal advocate for pursuing diplomacy with Iran, repeatedly arguing that President Trump’s objective should be preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without drawing the United States into another prolonged military conflict.

In June, Vance publicly rebuked Israeli officials who criticized the Iran agreement, warning, “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

The criticism intensified in July, when Vance told Joe Rogan that some members of Israel’s government were attempting to influence U.S. policy in order to steer Washington away from diplomacy and prolong the conflict.

During that same podcast appearance, Vance also alleged that Jeffrey Epstein had ties to “the highest levels of Israeli intelligence.”

{Matzav.com}