Vice President J.D. Vance supports progress on Israel-Gaza ceasefire
Vice President J.D. Vance expressed confidence in the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza at the opening of Israel’s Civil Military Cooperation Center.
JERUSALEM – His vice president said this trip was not about babysitting. His top diplomat said the trip was simply aimed at making sure everything was “coming together” in the right direction. The son-in-law said the aim was to “complete the mission” and “resolve everyone’s concerns.”
Just over a week after his personal visit to the Middle East to oversee the signing of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, US President Donald Trump has rushed key aides and officials to Israel to ensure the fragile ceasefire is on track and moves into a second phase, which is expected to be more difficult.
“It’s not surveillance in the sense of surveillance of young children,” Vice President J.D. Vance said after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on October 22. “This is oversight in the sense that there is a lot of work to be done and a lot of good people doing the work, and it is important that administrative principals continue to make sure that staff are doing what we are asking them to do.”
Mr. Vance will conclude his three-day visit to Israel on October 23, the same day that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to arrive in Israel. Netanyahu’s office said Rubio will meet with Israeli leaders the next day. Before leaving for Israel, Rubio told reporters that it was important that senior U.S. officials be on the ground in Israel from time to time because the ceasefire’s multiple phases pose “challenges.”
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are also visiting Israel this week as part of efforts to preserve the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire, which is less than two weeks old.
On October 22, Kushner visited Israel’s new civilian-military coordination center near the Gaza border, which is controlled by about 200 U.S. troops, and said: “Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense war to a peacetime posture.” The center will be used by U.S. and international officials to coordinate with aid groups to prevent military-related explosions from spiraling into escalation.
If Gaza eventually stabilizes, foreign forces could replace Israeli forces in Gaza as part of the international security force. There are no plans for U.S. troops to be deployed to Gaza, but the center will help manage the force.
President Trump deploys “bivisitters”
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement has largely remained in place, but sporadic fighting has broken out since the deal was signed, leaving two Israeli soldiers and more than 40 Palestinians dead. In the first phase of the agreement, Hamas released the last 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has also so far returned the bodies of at least 15 deceased hostages to Israel. There are about a dozen left. Israel has returned the bodies of more than 150 Palestinians to Gaza.
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Subsequent Israeli military attacks in Gaza killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
The second phase of the agreement focuses on more thorny issues, including Israel’s insistence on the complete disarmament of Hamas and which groups should be allowed to exercise post-war authority over Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a non-contiguous Palestinian territory, will be allowed to play such a role.
A deal brokered by the White House calls for more than a dozen bipartisan technocrats to take temporary control of Gaza, but the agreement does not provide details on when that would happen.
There are also concerns that Prime Minister Netanyahu may try to pull out of the nuclear deal sooner rather than later, which is why President Trump has flooded Israel with high-level visits from Vance, Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner, according to Israeli media reports. This is to prevent Prime Minister Netanyahu from renewing his all-out attack on Hamas.
In recent days, multiple U.S. media outlets have noted that Israeli news outlets have been referring to the U.S. contingent as “Bibi-sitters,” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname “Bibi.” The term “bibi-sitter” was coined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself in reference to a 2015 campaign ad that characterized his credibility. According to CNN, U.S. officials also referred to the visit as “bivisiting.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Still, Vance appears to have been aware of the views of a significant number of American officials appearing in Israel shortly after President Trump’s visit. “We don’t want to be a vassal state. That’s not what Israel is,” he said in response to a question from an Israeli journalist after his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We don’t want a vassal state. That’s not what Israel is. We want a partnership,” he said.
Mr. Vance also seems bullish about the long-term prospects of a ceasefire. “This will require oversight, and it will take a lot of effort,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. But I’m optimistic.”
