On November 9, 2025, the intricate relationship between American politics, religion, and Middle East diplomacy took center stage as Vice President JD Vance’s high-profile visit to Israel unfolded. This trip, and the efforts surrounding it, revealed not only the evolving political dynamics between the United States and Israel but also the growing importance of faith in both public diplomacy and domestic American discourse.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli government has recently embarked on an ambitious—and expensive—campaign to rehabilitate its standing in American public opinion. Facing a marked decline in support from the conservative right, Israel has signed contracts worth millions of dollars aimed at reshaping perceptions both online and offline. These efforts are anything but subtle: they include public diplomacy campaigns, outreach to millions of Christian churchgoers, the deployment of bot networks to amplify pro-Israel messages online, and even attempts to influence search results and responses from popular AI services like ChatGPT. The stakes are high, and the methods increasingly sophisticated.
It’s against this backdrop that Vice President JD Vance, a figure whose faith is as integral to his public persona as his politics, arrived in Jerusalem in October 2025. Vance’s trip was not just another diplomatic mission; it was a deeply personal journey, one that placed his Catholic beliefs at the heart of his official role. The vice president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, began his visit by kneeling on a crimson cushion at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, specifically on the Stone of the Anointing—a site revered by Christians as the place where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial after the crucifixion.
"I'd ask all people of faith, in particular, my fellow Christians, to pray that the Prince of Peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world," Vance said at the outset of his visit, as reported by USA Today. His words were a call not only to prayer but to unity among Christians worldwide, underscoring how faith and geopolitics are often intertwined in this part of the world.
Vance’s public embrace of his faith has become more pronounced since taking office. He attends Mass every week and, during this trip, participated in confession and worshiped at a private Mass performed by Franciscan monks. While Vance’s religiosity has always been a part of his personal journey—he grew up in a Christian household, became an atheist, and later returned to faith at his wife Usha’s encouragement—it is now inseparable from his political identity. As Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told USA Today, "I think he's becoming bolder and more confident in not only expressing his faith in a public context, but I think he's also becoming more confident in connecting his faith to his aspirations for leadership and policy."
This blending of faith and policy was on full display as Vance advocated for President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal. The timing was critical: just a week earlier, Trump had declared the Gaza war over, sending a succession of U.S. representatives to Israel to shore up the fragile peace. Vance’s assignment was high-stakes and high-visibility, with many Republicans eyeing him as a potential inheritor of Trump’s political movement after the president acknowledged he could not seek a third term.
During his meetings, Vance pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to support the next phase of the peace plan, which includes the possible deployment of an international security force to police Gaza. This proposal, however, faces significant obstacles—not least Netanyahu’s strong aversion to Turkish troops operating on the ground. "My message was just: do whatever you can to work with us to actually make this peace agreement stick, because it’s not going to be easy," Vance told journalists, as quoted by USA Today. "These two sides, there’s a lot of hatred, they’ve been fighting a very brutal war over the last couple of years."
Yet Vance’s visit did not pass without controversy. On the eve of his return, he openly criticized an Israeli parliament vote to advance the annexation of the West Bank, calling it "a very stupid political stunt"—a remark that ruffled feathers among religious conservatives who view the territory as part of the Biblical promised land. The comment also put him at odds with some in the Trump administration, who worry about alienating key Arab partners needed to implement the peace deal. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, a leading evangelical voice, posted on social media, "Telling Israel it cannot exercise sovereignty within its own borders to appease terror-supporting regimes like Turkey and Qatar is deeply troubling."
Vance’s religious convictions have also prompted scrutiny of his personal life. At a Turning Point USA student town hall two weeks before his Israel trip, he expressed a desire for his wife Usha, who is Indian American and was raised Hindu, to convert to Christianity. "I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way. But if she doesn't, then God says everybody has free will. And so, that doesn't cause a problem for me," Vance said. The comment sparked a flurry of debate about religious tolerance and respect within families, especially after Vance responded pointedly to critics accusing him of disrespecting his wife’s faith.
For many observers, Vance’s willingness to discuss both his faith and its influence on his policy positions marks a new chapter in American political life. Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, pointed to the recent assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk as a moment that has prompted many young Americans to reconsider faith. “I think we've got an entire nation, especially of young people, who are really, because of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, really taking the time to reconsider faith or consider faith for the first time,” Nance said, as reported by USA Today.
Meanwhile, Israel’s own efforts to shore up its image in the United States reflect the shifting tides of American public opinion. The millions spent on campaigns targeting Christian communities, the use of bot networks, and attempts to shape AI-generated content all point to a recognition that support from American Christians—and particularly from the conservative right—can no longer be taken for granted. As Haaretz notes, these initiatives are a direct response to a "sharp drop in support from the conservative right in the United States."
In the end, Vance’s visit to Israel offered a glimpse into how faith, politics, and international diplomacy are colliding and coalescing in new ways. Whether these efforts will ultimately foster peace or merely highlight the complexities of the region remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: both Israel and its American allies are betting that appeals to faith and carefully crafted public diplomacy will play a decisive role in shaping the future of their relationship.