Democrats have spoken out against former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, criticizing Congress for inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the chamber.
Many think Pelosi’s comments make it harder for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to hold the party together. Lord knows the Squad gives the party enough headaches.
On June 7, Pelosi said on CNN:
PERINO: If you were still speaker, would you have invited him?PELOSI: No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I think this is wrong. Frankly, I didn’t approve of his being invited the last time. But the speaker, just on his own, invited him without consulting with the rest of the leadership. And he came and he criticized, President Obama for the masterful work that he had done with the nuclear agreement regarding Iran to stop them from developing a nuclear weapon. And I thought it was completely inappropriate. I feel it’s very sad that he has been invited, but who knows by then why he still be prime minister? What is Benny Gantz going to be saying tomorrow? What’s happening?Everything I read is that they’re unhappy about this or unhappy about that. Not not just Benny, but other members of his cabinet. I wish that he would be a statesman and do what is right for Israel. We all love Israel. We thought October seventh was terrible. Hamas is a terrorist organization. They’re dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The hostages are not free. The people of Gaza are suffering. We need to help them and not have him stand in the way of that for such a long time. He being Netanyahu. So I think it’s just I think it’s going to invite more of what we have seen in terms of discontent among our own people… Let’s try to have a two state solution to make it to make it make peace, in the region, rather than coming, to the capital to draw protesters.
Democrats have finally spoken out about her interview. Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) had the most damning comment:
“I was disappointed because I think it does make things more difficult for our leadership,” Vargas said. “They made a decision, the decision was a tough one, and we usually hang together. Honestly, when she was Speaker, we hung with her, and I was hoping she would do the same.”
Dang.
Vargas is not wrong. Democrats, minus The Squad, tend to show unity even though you know not everything is rosy, especially regarding Israel and Hamas.
Other Democrats pointed out someone could disagree with the invite while not mentioning the leadership.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) might boycott Netanyahu’s speech. However, he refuses to criticize or push back against the leadership’s choice:
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), who is leaning toward boycotting Netanyahu’s speech to protest his handling of the war, nonetheless supports the decision by Democratic leaders to invite the prime minister to Washington. He’s echoing Vargas’s warning that Pelosi’s comments will only exacerbate the party’s differences over Israel to the benefit of Republicans.“Israel is an ally, and many of us support Israel without supporting Netanyahu. And I think that’s the basis upon which Mr. Jeffries made his decision. This was a courtesy to an ally, and not anything more,” he said. “Obviously, she’s the former Speaker of the House, and I think comments like that are not helpful to the cohesion of the party.”
America’s close relationship with Israel also came up:
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) declined to comment specifically on Pelosi’s comments. “But,” he quickly added, “if I were the leader I would have signed the letter.”“He’s the prime minister of one of our closest allies,” Schneider said. “This is a very complex issue with a lot of nuance, and lots of people are trying to suppress the nuance to create political advantage for their position or their side.“It does none of us any good to divide Congress, divide either party, in support for a key ally.”
Jeffries tried to brush aside the comments, but they cannot make anything easier.
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