Stop ‘Rooting For Failure’ In Gaza: Vance In Israel Lambasts Western Media

Vice President JD Vance was in Israel Tuesday, where expressed confidence that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would hold, despite a brief flare-up in fighting on Sunday which saw Israeli forces launch dozens of new airstrikes.

During visit to the newly established US-Israel ceasefire coordination center in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, Vance emphasized he’s optimistic the truce will hold, but also that Hamas must be fully disarmed. He was joined by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump on Tuesday had warned from Washington that he could deploy international forces to fight Hamas, but that he will give the group a chance to honor the ceasefire, and return more bodies of hostages.

The president posted the following to Truth Social on Tuesday morning:

“Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and ‘straighten our Hamas’ if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us.”

However, he didn’t name any specific countries. But he did praise Indonesia, interestingly, for its humanitarian response related to the crisis.

In southern Israel, Vance’s most interesting statement involved denunciation of the mainstream press, which he accused of rooting for failure as another opportunity to trash the Trump White House:

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday denounced what he called “a weird attitude” in the American and Western press, accusing some in the media of “rooting for failure” as a historic Middle East peace plan moves forward.

“Things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they were,” Vance said at a news conference in southern Israel, announcing the opening of the new Civilian-Military Cooperation Center. “This is a very, very tough situation. You have two peoples, two enemies who fought a very tough conflict against each other.

He took the opportunity to also praise Israel for defending itself against terrorism – a common refrain among US officials. “You have a terrorist organization on one hand that murdered a lot of innocent people,” he said. “You’ve got an Israeli army that was defending itself on the other, that has learned a lot over the past couple of years.”

Vance also took the opportunity to reiterate there will be “no American boots on the ground” inside Gaza…

VP Vance praises President Trump’s historic peacemaking in Israel:

“The only real mediators are the United States of America…I think the American people should be proud of it, but they should know that there are going to be no American boots on the ground in Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/bQlzWJgQFp

— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 21, 2025

As for the coordination center in Kiryat Gat’s industrial zone, which was established as part of the comprehensive Trump peace plan, it hosts Israeli and American troops along with civilian contractors.

Further there are military personnel from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Jordan. Flags from each participating nation are displayed inside the large facility, according to Israeli media descriptions.