Current Events > Pelosi challenged on POTUS levers to influence Israel in Conflict Zone interview

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://youtu.be/0Hy-oRpG6NI

Tim Sebastian (Deutsche Welle reporter): The White House has escalated its rhetoric pretty sharply last week. Mr. Biden said Israel's conduct of the war was over the top. "There are a lot of innocent people who are starving," he said, "there are a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it's got to stop." Can Mr. Biden make it stop?

Pelosi: Well, we have a I don't want to call him "Mr." because l've lost so much respect for him - Netanyahu there, who seems to be...

Sebastian: You've lost respect for him?

Pelosi: A long time ago. But nonetheless, he seems to be calling the shots and he and his very extreme right wing. I wouldn't even say conservative because that's a legitimate place to be in the world of thinking on the spectrum. Right-wing, radical right-wing Cabinet. So I would hope that hearing from a friend of Israel, as Joe Biden has always been and all of us have been, is that [Netanyahu] would respect the lives of the people who are innocent collateral damage in the war.

Tim Sebastian: But there are levers which Biden could use, that he hasnt used, there are levers which previous presidents have used, when Israel has in their view crossed the line.

Pelosi: For example?

Sebastian: Go back to 1956, Eisenhower -

Pelosi: (laughs) Oh, 56 -

Sebastian: Eisenhower threatens sanctions if Israel didnt pull its forces out of Sinai. Reagan, you know, held up delivery of fighter jets over Israels action in Lebanon. George Bush Senior, blocked loan guarantees because of settlement building.

Pelosi: He did, I was there the day he- that, that I remember-

Sebastian: So these levers are there.

Pelosi: Well theres some, but the president has said something about the settlements, he has said something about the settlements.

Sebastian: But saying, and blocking weapons supplies is very different things.

Pelosi: Well, its a path. Its a path.

Ive recently seen a lot of denial on CE that either the US president has ways to influence Israel or else that it has always been US policy to unquestionably support all of Israels actions, which is just not historical.

Inb4 Why are you posting this, do you want people to vote Trump? No, I think you should vote for the Democratic candidate, which will almost certainly be Joe Biden.

"The President said something tho!"

That was really weak on her part.

Doe posted...

Inb4 Why are you posting this, do you want people to vote Trump? No, I think you should vote for the Democratic candidate, which will almost certainly be Joe Biden.

With Biden you get the war in the can, it ends when it ends. With Trump you get a guy saying he can put everything back in the can. Some people prefer greater uncertainty with these things.

Some weird stuff from Pelosi in this interview.

Sebastian: But isn't the danger for the US that if you don't like what Israel is doing, and the president has made it clear that some of what Israel is doing, he doesn't like, and you go on supplying them with hardware to do those things. You own this operation every bit as much as they do, don't you?

Pelosi: No, we don't, we don't. We have always supported Israel as our national security friend, largely because it was in our interest to do so. Largely because it was in our interest to do so. We had shared values, it's the only democracy in the region. The behavior of Netanyahu is, in my view, inexcusable in terms of how it has affected, the collateral damage to children and families and the rest. But nobody can take away the right of any country to defend itself that has been brutally attacked in that way.

Sebastian: 28,000 Palestinian lives-

Pelosi: Shocking.

Sebastian: -is more than self-defense, isnt it? Its more than self-defense.

Pelosi: Well, their goal is, and I just saw President Herzog. For whom I have enormous respect. And [i said] how are things, and he basically said we just have a couple more steps, and then well be through this. So that sounded optimistic to me, that they think it is in reach to rid Gaza of Hamas. I dont hear a lot of the people and theyre outside my house almost every day, but nobody cares about that, I dont mean to make that a big thing but I just hear them I dont hear them say free the hostages, I dont hear any of them say Hamas is a terrorist organization. I hear them praising Hamas. I hear them ignoring the hostages. So theres a lot of, shall we say, behavior we all have to address here.

Sebastian: Last week the EUs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, wondered aloud why the US isn't doing more to have its warnings taken seriously in Jerusalem. "If you believe" he said, "that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide fewer arms in order to prevent so many people being killed." He's got a point, hasn't he?

Pelosi: Israel is very well equipped with weaponry. There's nothing that we have sent since October 7th that has contributed to this brutality. In the longer run, they're in a dangerous neighborhood, and we will continue to support Israel. Let's talk about Ukraine, if we may.

President Herzog was the guy who said there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, by the way, so keep that in mind when Pelosi says how much respect she has for him and says she takes him at his word in response to the statement, 28,000 deaths is not self defense.

Why are you posting this, do you want people to vote Trump?

Their statements will always be weird, weak, and pathetic on this because they know what the right thing is and what options are available to exercise influence. They simply don't want to do it for political and economic reasons.

Doe posted...

https://youtu.be/0Hy-oRpG6NI

Ive recently seen a lot of denial on CE that either the US president has ways to influence Israel or else that it has always been US policy to unquestionably support all of Israels actions, which is just not historical.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna127107

Biden, unlike previous presidents, believes that unconditionally supporting Israel will actually gain him more influence.

Strand posted...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna127107

Biden, unlike previous presidents, believes that unconditionally supporting Israel will actually gain him more influence.

Yes, a lot of people in CE are ignorant of this and make incorrect assertions about Bidens approach compared to previous presidents.

Pelosi's claim that US weapons have not contributed to the brutality is a lie.

"The heavy munitions, mostly manufactured by the US, can cause high casualty events and can have a lethal fragmentation radius"
https://edition.cnn.com/gaza-israel-big-bombs/index.html

"The Biden administration has faced criticism for continuing to supply arms to Israel as allegations pile up that American-made weapons have been used in strikes that have killed or injured civilians."
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-plans-send-weapons-israel-even-biden-pushes-ceasefire-wsj-reports-2024-02-17/

Doe posted...

Yes, a lot of people in CE are ignorant of this and make incorrect assertions about Bidens approach compared to previous presidents.

I wouldn't say that they're ignorant. They deliberately choose to ignore it to keep spinning his approach as an inevitability of US politics under any president. Like refusing to acknowledge whenever someone brings it up, but bizarrely quoting and replying to other parts of the same post. It's blatant willful ignorance.

They got to kiss Israel's ass because of that sweet AIPAC money and also because they don't want Israel to turn on them and use their massive influence and lobbies in America to support Republicans.