Vice President JD Vance criticized NBC News on Sunday morning, accusing the network of ignoring Israelis celebrating President Donald Trump’s role in securing a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
During NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vance said he watched NBC’s coverage showing demonstrators in Israel booing when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s name was mentioned at a rally — while failing to note that the crowd cheered when Trump’s name came up.
Vance said, “But I also have to give your network a little bit of grief, Kristen, because last night I was watching NBC, they were covering this and they mentioned during a rally last night in Israel, when Steve Witkoff our special envoy mentioned Bibi Netanyahu the crowd booed, but the broadcast didn’t mention when Steve Witkoff mentioned President Trump –– the crowd actually cheered.”
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner spoke at a Tel Aviv rally Saturday night, held in support of the remaining hostages still held by Hamas ahead of their planned release on Monday.
Trump and his team announced last week that they had negotiated a peace deal between Israel and Hamas that they said would end the war and lead to the release of all remaining hostages — two years after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to Israeli officials, the living hostages are expected to be released in a single phase within 72 hours.
The return of the bodies of deceased hostages will take longer, but Israel insists on their inclusion in the deal.
During the Tel Aviv rally, speakers and attendees celebrated the agreement. However, the crowd booed Netanyahu when Witkoff mentioned his role in the negotiations.
Stay up to date on the Israel-Hamas cease-fire exchange
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As the booing continued, Witkoff said, “OK, let me just finish my thought. I was in the trenches with the prime minister. Believe me, he was a very important part here.”
When Witkoff mentioned Trump’s name later in the address, the crowd cheered.
Vance told Welker he noticed that NBC’s coverage omitted the cheers for Trump and explained why he believed the former president deserved praise from the crowd in Tel Aviv.
“And why is that, Kristen? Why did the crowd cheer? Because this moment came from very, very deliberate and consequential diplomacy from the president and the entire administration.”
