Evangelical Christian Zionist leader Laurie Cardoza-Moore called on US President Donald Trump on Monday to publicly distance himself from recent statements by Vice President JD Vance concerning Israel, Iran, and alleged Israeli influence in American politics.
Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), said Vance’s remarks risked legitimizing antisemitic conspiracy theories and damaging relations between Israel and its Christian supporters in the United States.
“As one of the millions of Evangelical Christians who stand with Israel and our Jewish brethren, I call upon President Trump to immediately distance himself from the vice president’s recent statements on Israel and the Jews,” she said in a statement released by PJTN.
Cardoza-Moore, who hosts the Christian television program “Focus on Israel,” described herself and her supporters as “Zionist, patriotic American Christians” and cited biblical passages supporting Israel.
Cardoza-Moore criticizes Vance’s Rogan interview
Her criticism followed Vance’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, during which the vice president said a “very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign” had attempted to derail US negotiations with Iran.
Vance said some members of the Israeli government opposed the agreement and referred to reports of an Israeli government-funded effort involving conservative influencers. He nevertheless rejected the broader argument that foreign interests determine Washington’s Iran policy.
Cardoza-Moore said linking Israel to disproportionate influence over the US government echoed longstanding antisemitic accusations.
“It is interesting to note that many of the accusations, hurled at Israel by JD Vance, are the same as those hurled at Israel by enemies at home and abroad. Is this a coincidence? I think not.”
“Suggesting that Israel wields disproportionate power over our government or clinging onto bizarre conspiracy theories around the Epstein files reeks of age-old medieval Jew-hatred,” she said.
Vance tells Rogan that Epstein was intricately connected with high-level Israeli intelligence, the “Israeli Deep State,” in particular Ehud Barak’s government.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/23ylPxkN03
— AF Post (@AFpost) July 15, 2026
During the same interview, Vance claimed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had connections to senior figures in both American and Israeli intelligence.
No evidence has established that Epstein worked for Israeli intelligence. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has also publicly rejected allegations that Epstein operated for Israel or the Mossad.
Cardoza-Moore accused Vance of using rhetoric that could appeal to figures on the isolationist and antisemitic fringes of the American Right, including commentator Tucker Carlson and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
“Some have suggested that Vance is attempting to appeal to the likes of Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes with these antisemitic dog whistles, but that only makes it worse,” she said. “Our Republic’s future and the make-up of our government cannot be paved on the backs of our Jewish Brethren. These attacks have been so potent that they have led me to ask whether the initials JD now stand for Jew Defamer?”
Cardoza-Moore previously resigned from the Heritage Foundation’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism after the organization defended Carlson following his interview with Fuentes. At the time, she called Carlson “a threat to Jewish communities.”
Cardoza-Moore also criticized comments Vance made during a June White House briefing, when he warned Israeli officials against attacking Trump over the administration’s proposed agreement with Iran.
Vance said Trump was “the only head of state in the entire world” sympathetic to Israel and argued that much of Israel’s defensive weaponry had been supplied with US support. His comments prompted criticism from Israeli officials and American Jewish Republicans.
The vice president’s remarks have also drawn criticism from Republican Jewish voters and officials, some of whom said his approach had undermined confidence in his support for the US-Israel relationship.
Cardoza-Moore said Vance had wrongly blamed Israel for seeking to prolong the conflict with Iran. She argued that the United States should have supported a more decisive campaign against Iran’s leadership and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Her statement came after an Iranian attack on US forces in Jordan on last week. According to US Central Command, two American service members were killed, one remained missing, and four others were wounded in Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.
Warning over consequences for Jewish communities
Cardoza-Moore said rhetoric alleging secret Israeli control or conspiratorial influence could contribute to rising hostility toward Jewish communities in the United States and abroad.
“As the global plague of Jew-hatred continues to grow on our shores, we must be extremely careful, as people of influence, to measure our words very carefully,” she said.
She also rejected Vance’s assertion that some Israeli officials wanted the war with Iran to continue indefinitely, saying he had not identified any specific official who held that position.
Cardoza-Moore concluded by calling on Trump to publicly reject Vance’s statements and urging the vice president to apologize.
“Now is the time for the president to publicly distance himself from JD’s words and for Vance to apologize and switch gears,” she said.
