From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 22, 2025
Vance claims antisemitism in US a ‘real backlash’ to American foreign policy
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US Vice President JD Vance claims that only a small percentage of Americans are antisemitic, and that their views are a “real backlash” to American foreign policy, with a need for debate over Israel.
“Because 99% of Republicans, and I think probably 97% of Democrats, do not hate Jewish people for being Jewish,” Vance says in an interview with Unherd. It is unclear which polling, if any, he is referring to.
“What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy. I think we already had that conversation and not try to shut it down. Most Americans aren’t antisemitic. They’re never going to be antisemitic, and I think we should focus on the real debate,” he says.
“Now, I happen to believe that Israel is an important ally, that there are certain things that we’re certainly going to work together on,” he says.
“But we’re also going to have very substantive disagreements with Israel, and that’s OK. And we should be able to say, ‘We agree with Israel on that issue, and we disagree with Israel on this other issue,’” Vance says.
“Having that conversation is, I think, much less comfortable for a lot of people, because they want to focus on Nick Fuentes instead of on: why is Nick Fuentes gaining popularity or gaining notoriety?” says Vance, referring to the antisemitic podcaster.
Vance says that judging people “whether they’re Jewish or white or anything else” is “disgusting.”
“I think that Nick Fuentes, his influence within Donald Trump’s administration, and within a whole host of institutions on the Right, is vastly overstated — and frankly, it’s overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel,” he says.
Speaking at the Turning Point USA conference yesterday, Vance declined to condemn the antisemitism that is roiling the Republican Party and the conference itself, saying “we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”
He has previously pushed back on prominent conservatives who have raised alarms about hostility toward Jews among young right-wing activists.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.