In a tense interview on Sunday, CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on his political future and the controversial war strategy in Gaza. Bash confronted Netanyahu with Sen. Chuck Schumer’s call for new Israeli elections and President Biden’s apparent distance from the Israeli leader’s actions.
Regarding Sen. Chuck Schumer’s demand for elections in Israel, Netanyahu commented: “I think what he said is totally inappropriate. It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something that the Israeli public does on its own and we’re not a banana republic. I think that the only government that we should bring down now is the Hamas tyranny in Gaza who murdered over 1,000 Israelis, including dozens of Americans, and is holding Americans and Israelis hostage – that’s what we should be focusing on. And as far as what Sen. Schumer said – the majority of Israelis support our government, the policies that we’re leading. It’s not a fringe government, it represents the majority of the people. If Sen. Schumer opposes these policies, he’s not opposing me, he’s opposing the Israeli people.”
Bash replied that “President Biden is a self-described Zionist…He called what Schumer said ‘a good speech.’ He shared the concern of many Americans,” Bash said.
“Dana, there’s a fallacy that is being perpetrated here. And you should take polls. You have your own polls, and check whether the people of Israel support the policies that I’m being criticized for,” Netanyahu replied.
He continued: “That is, supporting the policies of going into Rafah, destroy the quarter of the remaining Hamas terrorist army. That’s like leaving a quarter of the Nazi terrorist army in Germany and saying, ‘No, we’re not going to finish the last quarter, and we’re not going into Berlin.’ Most Israelis overwhelmingly support the position that we have to go in. They oppose the idea of ramming down a two-state solution or a terrorist state against their will because they think that this will endanger Israel’s future. They support those policies that I’m putting forward and to present that as something that is, ‘I’m an outlier,’ it doesn’t represent the majority of the people of Israel is simply a fallacy.”
Asked whether he would commit to elections once the war is over, Netanyahu said, “we’ll see when we win the war,” and when pushed again about it, he responded, “That’s for the Israeli people to decide.”
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4 Responses
I’m American. I live in the USA. Yet it’s tortuous hearing how downright stupid Americans can be. Twist the words however you wish, an ally has no business calling for elections. Not now, not when the war winds down. In a democracy, the people decide. Not Mr. Biden, not Mr. Schumer. And not the dog behind this all – Barack Hussein Obama.
There’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza? IF indeed there is one, it’s got no more to do with Israel than it has with Hungary or Poland. Any responsibility lies with Hamas and Hamas only. They deliberately hinder delivery of aid. They shoot at their own people waiting for aid. They don’t want Palestinians getting aid. Starving children serves their purpose way more than photos of aid trucks being unloaded calmly in an orderly fashion. Stop blaming Israel who has done well beyond what any army fighting a ruthless enemy would ever even consider doing!
The narcissistic speech of the interviewer says it all. She knows better than anyone else in the planet smh
יפה דברת
Why should Netanyahu commit to elections when the war is over? Because Chuck E Cheese and Joe Braindead want him to?