On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) stated that Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah raised “the risks of escalation” and undercut the American goal “to prevent an expansion, an escalation of the war,” and “I don’t believe that we should be providing a blank check when it comes to offensive weapons. U.S. taxpayer dollars should be tied to U.S. objectives and U.S. values. And you cannot have a situation where the Prime Minister of Israel and the extremist government he has continuously rebuffs the President of the United States and is just rewarded.”
Van Hollen stated, [interview begins around 36:50 of the podcast player] “[T]he Biden administration has been focused on getting a ceasefire and a return of all the hostages, both to address the terrible situation in Gaza, but also to prevent an expansion, an escalation of the war, a situation where anything could trigger a greater conflagration. And so, that has been their focus. And it’s very clear — and I speak to hostage families…and they do see, very clearly, that a big part of the problem has been that Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to put his own political survival and allegiance to the very extreme government that he has over the United States’ goal of achieving a return of the hostages and a ceasefire. So, you sum that up very well. And the risks of escalation, as we’ve just seen in the last 24 hours, remain greater than ever.”
He added, “[Y]ou mentioned what happened after the Israeli attack on the Syrian compound — the embassy compound. The Iranians then launched a lot of missiles at Israel. We were there, as were some of our Arab partners, to help Israel intercept those missiles. But, clearly, if those missiles had gotten through, you would see a much bigger conflagration, a much wider expansion, where the United States could get sucked into this war, which is why the Biden administration has been focused on trying to de-escalate, and why they are very worried about some of these incidents, these actions that could trigger escalation.”
Host Chris Hayes then asked, “Here’s another tactic, which is being proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) … which is to essentially stop just using diplomacy in the sense of talking and flying to the region, but to actually essentially use American leverage to try to force Netanyahu to the table for a deal. And that comes in a resolution to disapprove of $20 billion in arms sales. The Senator says he’s going to do that. There are many people who think this is one way the U.S. could exert leverage beyond the leverage it’s attempted to exert to try to get to a deal. Do you believe that’s an effective way to go?”
Van Hollen answered, “I’m going to take a look at the Sanders proposal. But I will say this, that a partnership between the United States and Israel cannot be a one-way street. And what we have seen, recently, is President Biden make repeated requests, demands of the Netanyahu government, only to be totally ignored, on the ceasefire/return of hostage negotiations, on settler violence, on a host of other things. And so, I do think that the United States can make more effective use of our leverage. I don’t think the Biden administration is using all the tools at our disposal. And I don’t believe that we should be providing a blank check when it comes to offensive weapons. U.S. taxpayer dollars should be tied to U.S. objectives and U.S. values. And you cannot have a situation where the Prime Minister of Israel and the extremist government he has continuously rebuffs the President of the United States and is just rewarded. So, I’m going to look at this.”
Van Hollen continued, “I’ve said previously that I supported a pause in offensive weapons transfers to Israel, not defensive weapons. … And I don’t support an arms embargo. But I do support effective use of the tools of U.S. diplomacy. And I don’t support an anything-goes blank check. We do not do that with other security partners around the world. We say that we want to provide help, but we also have the objectives, in this case, the objectives the President has laid out. And therefore, we should use all the tools that are at our disposal. So, I’m going to take a look at it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
