When your enemy makes one damaging mistake after another, it’s best to let them keep doing it. That has been the rallying cry for most of the things President Joe Biden and his administration have done since January 2021, but it is especially true for the recent mishandling of our relationship with Israel during its war against Hamas.
During his interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reinforced the validity of that statement for the Democratic Party and the November election when asked for comment by host Margaret Brennan the conclusion of the newly released State Department report on Israel’s operate of U.S. weapons in Gaza,
Background: The State Department drops a report critical of Israel’s operate of U.S. weapons, but it’s even worse news for those on the left
Before we get to that, I can’t resist first sharing this video of Van Hollen excoriating former Democratic presidential candidate and Obama administration Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not bending enough in recent comments on MSNBC The Left’s Current Heroes, Pro-Hamas Campus Protesters:
Sen. @ChrisVanHollen disagrees with what he calls Hillary Clinton’s “dismissive” comments about the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.
“I believe that the overwhelming majority of students … understand what is happening in Gaza in terms of 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 greatest ire for current Secretary Antony Blinken, who appeared earlier on the show. Bob Hoge of RedState wrote: “Blinken acknowledged the atrocities [committed on Oct. 7th]but then it turned back to undermining Israel”:
We have come to the conclusion that in the case of the operate of weapons, as you said, it is an extremely convoluted military environment in which there is an enemy, Hamas, which carried out the most atrocious terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7th and itself then retreats to Gaza, hiding behind and among civilians, in hospitals, schools, mosques, homes…
[But] It is reasonable to assess this in several cases. Israel has not acted in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law. [Bolding mine.]
Van Hollen begins by praising Biden for cutting off military aid to Israel, while also taking a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
I think the president is absolutely right to hold back these gigantic, gigantic bombs that could be used in Rafah. Recall that the President of the United States has repeatedly warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that in the event of a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the United States would change its policy.
And Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored the President of the United States, he has ignored the President’s efforts to try to reduce civilian casualties, he has ignored our efforts to bring more humanitarian aid to Gaza, and he has ignored the priority that is to bring back the hostages.
But he uses a dime to criticize the government for not giving Israel’s opponents what they wanted in the report:
While I appreciate the fact that the administration has concluded, as Secretary Blinken said, that it was reasonable to conclude that there were violations of international law…
I think there is enough in the books to point to specific cases and make specific decisions.
And in this regard, the administration has dodged the tough questions.
Then watch him tread water, trying not to attack his own party’s presumptive nominee but failing:
Sen. @ChrisVanHollen (D-MD) says the Biden administration’s report on Israel’s operate of U.S. weapons did not “clearly highlight” Israel’s limitation on humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“I’m afraid we have… set a very low standard for what is acceptable. And I think that will be…” pic.twitter.com/m65ZvDl3CM
– Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 12, 2024
Van Hollen appears ready to throw Israel to the wolves. As I wrote in my story on the report on Friday, while it suggests that the administration would like nothing more than to flatly label Israel a war criminal, the conclusion stops compact of doing so. But that’s not good enough for the progressive flank – something that will come back to haunt Democrats, as Van Hollen inadvertently admits.
This is the current Democratic Party fearing it will lose younger voters and key battleground states like Michigan, so it needs to appease the radicals and repeat Hamas-verified propaganda. Shameful, but not surprising for these people – given their track record. Let’s hope Republicans can take advantage of the forceful division.
