Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday on CBS’s “The Late Show” that President Joe Biden should have cut off weapons to Israel sooner.
Wednesday on CNN, Biden said he would not supply offensive weapons for Israel to attack Rafah.
Psaki said, “I do think that there’s some leverage we’re all seeing being used. Should it have been used earlier? I think the answer is yes to that. But we are seeing them pull back in the sending of weapons. That’s actually a pretty significant sign, given that the United States and Israel has a long-standing connection on military support, where the United States is a big provider of that.”
Host Stephen Colbert asked, “Has the United States done that many times before, withhold the weapons?”
Psaki said, “Not many times before, but it has happened before. But not many times before, but that is a pretty significant step,” Psaki answered. “Prime Minister Netanyahu, I would say, is someone Joe Biden has had a tricky, challenging, difficult relationship with for some time. People don’t always see that. That isn’t talked about.”
She added, “It’s very hard and difficult to explain the nature of diplomacy. It’s just very hard to talk about what’s happening behind the scenes, sometimes because if you do, you’ll ruin the diplomatic talks and the conversations. But, outreach, and connection, and listening to young people, and hearing from them is certainly an important part of that. He is going to talk to Morehouse University, he is going to do that commencement address there in a couple of weeks. That’s a good step. They could be doing more of that. And I think that’s an important part of their outreach that they’ll have to do in the next couple months.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
