Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) drew praise from the Council on American-Islamic Relations for their efforts to enter Gaza, and the group, which blamed Israel for being attacked shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, urged other U.S. lawmakers to attempt the same thing.
On Friday, Van Hollen used language that U.S. Jewish groups have said hearkens back to centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories.
“Why have a State Department bureau on the Middle East if Trump and Sec. Marco Rubio are taking their orders from Netanyahu?” stated the Maryland Democrat. “We can save a lot of money by cutting out the middleman.” (Many American Jewish groups have said that suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu runs the U.S. government is Jew-hatred.)
“What will his next post be? The Jews who control our U.S. government?” stated Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Antisemitism, anyone?”
In nearly a dozen and a half statements posted to social media, the two senators criticized Israel and Netanyahu, including accusing the latter’s government of “weaponization of hunger.”
“Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza—the best way to get food to starving people there—so Jordan is delivering some with air drops,” Van Hollen stated. “The Jordanians said Sen. Jeff Merkley and I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorization for our scheduled flight.”
Merkley stated that the senators got a “rosy” briefing at the Kerem Shalom crossing “about aid reaching Gaza, but the reality is different. Far too little food gets through.”
The senators also decried what they said is “rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.” They also referred to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has delivered millions of meals to Gazans, as “so-called,” and said that Israel uses an “onerous screening process” on material entering the Strip.
“Israel’s inspection process at Ashdod Port protects against Hamas weapons smuggling,” stated the Israeli-American Civic Action Network. “Suggesting Israel is ‘starving Gaza’ ignores Hamas’s theft of aid and fuels dangerous narratives. Security and humanitarian aid are not mutually exclusive.”
The senators also said they demand that “the Netanyahu government deliver a ceasefire and the immediate return of all the loved ones held in Gaza.”
The Hamas terror organization continues to hold hostages in Gaza. The Netanyahu government does not.
