TEL AVIV – As top U.S. officials and envoys visit Israel this week to try to bolster the Gaza ceasefire agreement , Vice President JD Vance sought Wednesday 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,” Vance said beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to a reporter’s question about whether Israel was becoming a “protectorate” of the U.S.

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Netanyahu expressed similar sentiments moments earlier, even as he acknowledged that the allies have differences of opinion as they seek to push forward with a ceasefire agreement that is less than two weeks old.

“One week the

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