WASHINGTON \u2014 Pro-Israel hawks in both parties on Capitol Hill are sounding the alarm that they are losing confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war against Hamas.<\/p>\n
While progressive lawmakers have consistently been critical of Netanyahu and Israel\u2019s counterassault in the Gaza Strip that has leveled buildings and killed thousands of Palestinian civilians, it\u2019s significant that pro-Israel lawmakers who serve on key national security panels are now voicing frustration about Netanyahu\u2019s leadership, albeit quietly.<\/p>\n
Three of the lawmakers who spoke to NBC News said they are even questioning whether the 74-year-old prime minister has a strategy to end the bloody war in Gaza and have suggested that the unpopular Netanyahu may be deliberately trying to prolong it in order to remain in power.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to defend Bibi or to justify his political strategy in all of this,\u201d said one House Republican who deals with national security issues and requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. \u201cFrom a personal level, I think it\u2019s to his political benefit to stay engaged in conflict, whether that\u2019s with Hezbollah or whether that\u2019s in Gaza. Any type of cease-fire or peace agreement, rebuilding effort or off-ramp is detrimental for him politically, and I think that factors in on what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican added: \u201cThere\u2019s real distrust, there\u2019s real questions about his ability to lead, and I think he\u2019s very, very unpopular. I think you\u2019re seeing that within his Cabinet. You\u2019re seeing that within his coalition. You\u2019re seeing that within the military, within the country. And I think that is front and center for a lot of policymakers here in the U.S. from a national security standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n
A House Democrat who serves on a national security committee agreed with that assessment, calling Netanyahu a \u201cdisaster\u201d and saying he\u2019s highly concerned this military campaign could be an \u201cendless war\u201d with many more civilian casualties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears the Israeli government has given the IDF an unattainable mission, which is to eliminate Hamas. And if that is the mission that they expect the IDF to perform, then this is going to be an endless war,\u201d said the Democratic lawmaker. \u201cAnd in the meantime, countless, countless people are going to get innocently killed, and the devastation will be unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has been a strong friend of Israel, but Netanyahu is a disaster,\u201d said the Democrat, who called himself a \u201cstrong friend\u201d of Israel. \u201cAnd the worst part of it is, a lot of us fear that Netanyahu could potentially be stringing this out, because he knows that the moment that the conflict ends he\u2019s out of a job. And so it doesn\u2019t take rocket science to understand that for a craven politician like that, the current situation is just fine. But for everyone else, it\u2019s horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to NBC News, the prime minister\u2019s office rejected the lawmakers’ comments that Netanyahu may be deliberately dragging out the war for political purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu is prolonging the war unnecessarily is utter nonsense. The IDF chief of staff has said that this will be a long war which will take ‘many months.’ While significant progress has been made, more needs to be done to achieve the goals set by Israel\u2019s cabinet \u2014 destroying Hamas, returning Israel\u2019s hostages and permanently demilitarizing Gaza,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement.<\/p>\n
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to achieving this total victory and the people of Israel are overwhelmingly\u00a0united in continuing the war effort until it is achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mounting frustration<\/h2>\n
The growing anger at Netanyahu on Capitol Hill echoes the Biden administration\u2019s mounting frustration with the leader of one of the United States\u2019 closest foreign allies. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East last week and pitched a proposal to get Israel and Arab leaders to agree on a path forward for Gaza after the war ends. But Netanyahu rejected the proposal.<\/p>\n
Biden and Netanyahu, who have known each other for decades, spoke by phone on Friday to discuss Israeli operations in Gaza, increasing the flow of flour shipments and other humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and efforts to free hostages, the White House official said. It was the first time they had spoken since Dec. 23, the longest stretch that the leaders had been out of touch since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. The pre-Christmas call, U.S. officials said, had ended abruptly in a disagreement over Israel\u2019s refusal to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues it has been withholding from the Palestinian Authority since the war began.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely disappointed and upset by the lack of shift in strategy despite the very high and untenable rate of civilian casualties, which serves neither Israel\u2019s interests nor American interests,\u201d said a second House Democrat who also serves on a national security committee. \u201cThe current strategy of military approach only in large-scale bombing will absolutely make the problem worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., who recently led a bipartisan delegation of senators to the Middle East, said they urged Israeli officials to send more humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or risk the opening of another front in the three-month war.<\/p>\n \u201cOur support for Israel remains strong. But we\u2019ve got to have a partner in the Israeli government that realizes that you could lose a generation of American support if they don\u2019t think about conducting this conflict in Gaza in a different fashion,\u201d Warner said during an appearance this week on MSNBC\u2019s \u201cAndrea Mitchell Reports.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if regional peace could only happen in a post-Netanyahu world, Warner replied: \u201cThere are some outliers in Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s Cabinet who do nothing but stir the flames of passion against the Palestinians with some of their comments, like saying, \u2018Let\u2019s try to move all the Palestinians out of Gaza.\u2019 That\u2019s just, that is totally inappropriate kind of comments from some of the ministers in his government.\u201d<\/p>\n Warner\u2019s counterpart in the lower chamber, House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, declined to comment for this article. Another House GOP lawmaker said he still supports Netanyahu and the war effort but believes the embattled prime minister will not be able to keep his job after overseeing military operations that the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry says have killed roughly 24,000 civilians. A poll this month by the Israel Democracy Institute showed that only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain in power after the Gaza war.<\/p>\n During the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people, committed acts of sexual violence and took roughly 240 hostages, 134 who have not yet been released. This week, Congress marked 100 days since the attack with a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Capitol. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think Netanyahu will be able to survive this,\u201d said the GOP lawmaker, who has spent time in Israel but does not sit on a national security panel. \u201cIt will be so atrocious what he has to do. There\u2019ll be so many deaths, and there\u2019ll be so many innocents that will die in order to get Hamas and completely obliterate them to the best of their ability. And I think in our day and age, people don\u2019t understand the terrors of warfare are sometimes necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNetanyahu will be the scapegoat for doing what he has to do,\u201d the GOP lawmaker added.<\/p>\n Frustrations with Netanyahu come as a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators is furiously working to strike a deal on an emergency national security supplemental package that would include tougher immigration policies and military aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.<\/p>\n But on Thursday, Netanyahu inflamed tensions by restating his opposition to the creation of a postwar Palestinian state, arguing that it conflicts with the need for Israeli security. The United States supports a two-state solution.<\/p>\n \u201cWith or without the settlement, the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cThis conflicts with the idea of sovereignty. I also say this to the U.S.: A\u00a0prime minister in Israel should be able to say \u2018no\u2019 even to our best friends \u2014 that\u2019s how I drive.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by reporters Friday if he could convince Netanyahu to back a two-state solution, President Joe Biden simply replied: “Yes.”<\/p>\n The president floated the idea of a Palestinian state with no military or restrictions on its military. <\/p>\n While Netanyahu is hemorrhaging support among some Israel backers on the Hill, other longtime allies in both parties say they are standing by the man they affectionately call \u201cBibi.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s fine. They think it\u2019s war, and you have to give people that are in the war a free hand to do what they need to do, so I don\u2019t see any diminishment of support for Israel on the Republican side,\u201d said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who serves on the Appropriations subcommittee on defense.<\/p>\n Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the former majority leader who has known Netanyahu for two decades and frequently travels to Israel, said the prime minister is \u201cwrong\u201d in his opposition to a Palestinian state. But Hoyer said he <\/strong>backs Netanyahu and his fight to protect Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m supportive of Bibi Netanyahu. Am I supportive of Israel and its objective to eliminate the ongoing, continuing since 1948 intention to destroy Israel and kill Jews? The answer to that is absolutely yes,\u201d Hoyer told NBC News.<\/p>\n But Hoyer also added that the special U.S.-Israel relationship is not dependent on personalities. \u201cLargely, Netanyahu\u2019s time has come and gone,\u201d he said. A changing of leaders \u201cwill happen. When this is over, and I hope it\u2019s over sooner rather than later, I think that will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] WASHINGTON \u2014 Pro-Israel hawks in both parties on Capitol Hill are sounding the alarm that they are losing confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war against Hamas. While progressive lawmakers have consistently been critical of Netanyahu and Israel\u2019s counterassault in the Gaza Strip that has leveled buildings and killed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-01\/240119-gaza-beg-0512p-2c57a8.jpg\")
<\/picture>‘Doing what he has to do’<\/h2>\n
Standing by Bibi<\/strong><\/h2>\n