Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) defended his statement that he loved Israel’s attack on Hezbollah pagers in a recent interview with The New York Times.
“It was targeted for members of Hezbollah,” the pro-Israel Democrat said. “You know, no one uses beepers in that situation other than they were a member of Hezbollah.”
The interviewer noted that a young child was killed.
“Unfortunately, tragically, because Daddy was a member of Hezbollah. He brought that danger and evil into their home,” Fetterman said. “That’s what tragically resulted in that poor child’s death, and that’s what’s so terrible. She paid the price because her father was a terrorist for Hezbollah.”
Fetterman added that he thinks a two-state solution is an ideal but isn’t sure anymore if that is a possibility.
The Times interviewer asked Fetterman about the “nuance” of the “price” being paid in innocent life in the Gaza Strip. Fetterman replied, “There isn’t any nuance.”
“You think that the price that’s been paid is fair?” the interviewer asked.
“The price is terrible. It’s awful. That’s history and that’s war, and Israel was forced to fight an enemy that are cowardly,” he said. “They hide in tunnels. They hide in schools and in refugee camps, and they’re in those kinds of places.”
“That forces them to reach them—they have to go through these civilians,” Fetterman said. “That’s why they’re so evil, and that’s why that’s designed—the death and destruction and the misery, was designed by Hamas. They understood that that’s going to happen. They don’t care.”
“Some people blame Israel,” the senator said. “Well, I blame Hamas.”
The interviewer asked Fetterman to comment on the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The senator responded that it is “really curious” that many Democrats have decided that they couldn’t criticize Israel, so instead they went after Netanyahu.
“You can think he’s a bad leader or a bad person or anything, but that happens to be the democratically leader of Israel, and he’s on our side,” Fetterman said. “That’s our ally, and if you had to pick who you want to
criticize, you should be criticizing Hamas. You should be calling out Iran, or you should be calling out Hezbollah. Certainly not our ally.”
Fetterman added that there are “idiots in this nation” who chant “from the river to the sea.”
“At least own your antisemitism rather than trying to hide behind a turn on words,” he said.
