When your enemy is making one damaging error after another, it’s best to let him keep doing it. That’s the watchword on most things President Joe Biden and his administration have done since January 2021, but it’s especially true about their recent mishandling of our relationship with Israel during its war against Hamas.
During his interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) added more ammunition to the validity of that for the Democrat Party and the November elections, when he was asked by host Margaret Brennan to comment on the conclusion of the State Department’s newly-released report on Israel’s use of U.S. weapons in Gaza,
Background: State Dept. Drops Report Critical of Israel’s Use of US Weapons, but It’s Even Worse News for the Left
Before we get to that, I can’t resist sharing this video first, in which Van Hollen takes exception with former Democrat presidential nominee and Obama administration Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who, in recent comments on MSNBC, failed to sufficiently bow down to the Left’s current heroes, pro-Hamas campus protesters:
Sen. @ChrisVanHollen disagrees with what he calls “dismissive” comments from Hillary Clinton on the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.
“I believe the overwhelming majority of the students…understand what’s happening in Gaza with respect to the civilian casualties.” pic.twitter.com/UOenWqVAnB
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 12, 2024
Related: Hillary ‘Russian Collusion’ Clinton Ironically Declares ‘Propaganda Is Not Education’ on ‘Morning Joe’
So delicious. But Van Hollen saved his strongest ire for current Secretary Antony Blinken, who appeared earlier on the program. RedState’s Bob Hoge wrote that “Blinken acknowledged the atrocities [committed on Oct. 7th], but then once again pivoted to undermining Israel”:
We’ve concluded is in the case of the use of weapons, as you said, this is an extraordinarily complex military environment in which you have an enemy, Hamas, that committed the most atrocious terrorist attacks on Israel, October 7, and then retreats to Gaza, hides behind and underneath civilians, in hospitals, schools, mosques, apartment buildings…
[But] It’s reasonable to assess that in a number of instances. Israel has not acted in a manner that’s consistent with international humanitarian law. [Bolding mine.]
Read: Blinken Continues to Undermine Israel: Actions Not ‘Consistent With International Humanitarian Law’
Van Hollen begins by praising Biden for pausing military aid for Israel, while getting in a jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
I think the president is absolutely right to withhold these big, big bombs that could be used in Rafah. Remember, the president of the United States warned Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly that, if there was an all-out invasion in Rafah, that the United States would make policy changes.
And Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored the president of the United States, ignored the president’s efforts to try to reduce civilian casualties, ignored our efforts to try to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and ignored the priority of trying to bring back the hostages.
But he turns on a dime to call out the administration for not giving Israel’s opponents what they wanted in the report:
So, while I appreciate the fact that, as Secretary Blinken said, the administration determined that it was reasonable to conclude that violations of international law had – had happened…
I think there’s enough on the books to be able to point to specific cases and make specific determinations.
And, on that score, the administration did duck the hard questions.
Then watch as he treads water, as he tries and fails not to attack the presumptive nominee of his own party:
Sen. @ChrisVanHollen (D-MD) says the Biden administration’s report on Israel’s use of U.S. weapons didn’t “very clearly” call out Israel’s restriction on humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
“I fear that we have set…a very low standard for what’s acceptable. And I think that will… pic.twitter.com/m65ZvDl3CM
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 12, 2024
Van Hollen seems ready to throw Israel to the wolves. As I wrote in my story about the report Friday, while it hints that the administration would love nothing more than to flat-out call Israel war criminals, the conclusion stops short of doing so. That isn’t good enough for the progressive flank, though–something that’s going to haunt the Democrats, as Van Hollen accidentally admits.
This is the current Democrat Party, shaking in its boots that it will lose younger voters and crucial battleground states like Michigan, so it must appease the radicals and repeat Hamas-vetted propaganda. Shameful, but unsurprising for these people–given their track record. Let’s hope the Republicans can take advantage of the stark division.
