JD Vance: Biden’s Neglect of Hamas-Held U.S. Hostages ‘Biggest Scandal’ in Country

The continued detainment of Hamas-held American hostages in Gaza should be “the biggest scandal in the country,” according to Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who was recently selected as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, accusing the Biden administration of reckless disregard over the pressing issue.

In a Tuesday evening appearance on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime, Sen. JD Vance, who has been described as “America First on Steroids,” voiced his frustration over what he described as a gross indifference from President Joe Biden regarding American citizens held by terrorists. 

“It should be the biggest scandal in the country,” the Republican vice presidential nominee declared. “We have Americans, not Israelis — of course, we wouldn’t get the Israelis — American citizens being held by terrorists!” 

“The president seems not to care about it,” he added.

Eight Americans remain among 120 hostages in Gaza of which over one-third are believed dead.

The hostages were kidnapped on October 7 when Hamas executed a multi-pronged attack that saw some 3,000 terrorists infiltrate Israel by land, sea, and air and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival. The Islamic terrorists also went door-to-door hunting for Jewish men, women, and children in local towns, who were then subject to torture, rape, execution, immolation, and kidnapping.

The massacre, which drew parallels to scenes from the Nazi Holocaust, resulted in nearly 1,200 dead inside the Jewish State, over 4,800 more wounded, and at least 241 hostages of all ages taken — of which nearly half remain in Gaza.

The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.

Vance’s comments underscore a growing concern among critics that the current administration’s efforts to secure the release of American hostages have been insufficient amidst escalating dangers for U.S. citizens.

Last week, Trump announced Vance as his 2024 running mate. The much-anticipated moment occurred just as the former president was being formally nominated as the Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Vance, who has represented Ohio since 2022 and is the youngest serving senator today, has been a vocal critic of traditional U.S. foreign policy approaches and has also long maintained strong conservative support for Israel.

In May, he underscored the importance of U.S. support for Israel within his America First foreign policy framework, highlighting its moral, religious, and strategic basis while critiquing decades of U.S. foreign policy.

“Our goal in the Middle East should be to allow the Israelis to get to some good place with Saudi Arabians and other Gulf Arab states,” he previously told CNN. “There is no way that we can do that unless the Israelis finish the job with Hamas. If they can’t even do that, the attitude of the Middle East will be, you can’t trust these guys.”

“You’re never going to defeat the ideology of Hamas, but you can root out those commanders, those final military trained battalions. I think we should empower the Israelis to do it,” he suggested.

In 2022, Vance told the Jerusalem Post he would be “as strong an advocate for the US-Israel relationship as anyone.”