A photograph taken during a high-profile White House visit this week has prompted a body language expert to weigh in on how the three men pictured were really feeling.
President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance also present.
According to Florida-based analyst Lillian Glass, the resulting images tell a story that goes beyond the handshakes and smiles.
Glass, speaking to the New York Post, zeroed in on Vance’s positioning in the group photo, arguing he looked physically and emotionally ‘set apart’ from Trump and Netanyahu.
She pointed to the space between him and the other two men as the first clue, before turning to Vance’s facial expression.
“There is a gap in physical distance with Vance.
“Vance seems to be outside of the group, and his smile is tense as you can see the tenseness in his lower jaw,” she said.
JD Vance famously clashed with Zelensky in a Oval Office meeting on February 28, 2025. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Why did Vance Miss the Zelenskyy meeting?
Vance’s attendance at the Netanyahu meeting came after he skipped an earlier White House sit-down that day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The vice president was instead attending a memorial service for the late Senator Lindsey Graham.
Neither Netanyahu nor Zelenskyy meetings were open to press photographers or reporters.
Glass didn’t stop at Vance’s face. She also flagged his hand positioning as a further sign of discomfort, drawing a direct comparison to how relaxed Trump looked by contrast.
“He does not appear to be that comfortable, as you can see his fingers are more curved on the left side, indicating tension and discomfort,” she said. “This is in stark contrast to Trump, whose hands and fingers are very relaxed.”
The reading comes against a backdrop of Vance being increasingly outspoken on Middle Eastern policy.
He has previously criticized figures within Netanyahu’s cabinet after they publicly pushed back on a memorandum of understanding involving Iran, and is said to have raised concerns about some of the Israeli leader’s positions in private conversations too.
Speaking at a White House briefing, Vance defended his stance bluntly, saying, ‘If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.’
Donald Trump launched a joint military action against Iran with Israel on February 28 this year. (Photo by Maâayan Toaf (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
What did the expert say about Trump and Netanyahu’s dynamic?
Trump and Netanyahu haven’t always been perfectly aligned either.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s meeting, the president had publicly voiced irritation over leaked reports that Netanyahu intended to brief him on Iranian nuclear activity linked to Pickaxe Mountain.
Despite that tension, Glass said the body language on display between the two leaders read as warm and genuine. She described Trump’s smile toward Netanyahu as authentic, and pointed to a separate photograph of Trump reading from a card as further evidence of comfort.
“Trump is completely relaxed facially and body language-wise as he reads the card. His leg is pointed in the direction of Netanyahu, which means he genuinely likes Bibi and feels very comfortable in his presence,” she said.
Glass said the new photos show that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy has improved since their fractured meeting in February. (Photo by Zelenskyy Social Media Account/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Turning to the earlier photos from the Zelenskyy meeting, Glass suggested Trump and the Ukrainian leader appeared just as at ease with one another, citing their touching elbows as a particularly strong signal of goodwill.
“Trump is genuinely happy as he has a genuine smile and leans his head towards Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy does the same, leans his head towards Trump,” she said.
“They are in physical contact, which means they genuinely like one another and are happy to be around one another.”
Not every figure in the room read as relaxed, according to Glass. She described a separate image of Zelenskyy as showing him looking ‘cautious and contained,’ and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio came across as ‘guarded’ in the same set of photographs.
The apparent warmth between Trump and Zelenskyy follows months of Ukraine demonstrating resilience against Russian forces, particularly through its drone program, a factor widely seen as having shifted Trump’s tone toward the US ally.
Featured Image Credit: Maâayan Toaf (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Image
