Dem Sen. Merkley: We’re Moving Away from Saying Best Thing Is For Israel ‘To Always Know We Have Their Back’ 

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) stated that we’re in a transition away from our policy where “we basically said, the best way we can help Israel towards a future of peace is to always know we have their back, they’ll do the right thing. But now we have seen what has transpired in the West Bank with the daily de facto annexation through highways and settlements and outposts. We’ve seen that the despair has bred violence. We’ve got to be engaged towards a better future.”

Merkley said, “Listen, Israel says they’re trying to alert people about buildings and — but understand what it looks like on the ground is that Israel is no longer doing the double tap, which is essentially a big firecracker that you put off over a building before you bomb it. And they’re saying, but we make phone calls. Well, the cell phones are dead, because there hasn’t been power or they’re turned off to save what little power is left in them and they’re only turned on just for moments a day. And then if the cell system is down, then there’s no cell connection anyway. So, there’s been a huge mortality of women, children, noncombatants. And it is — a significant pause needs to be held to rethink all of this. And we have to be part of that. Our supply of both financial aid and military aid makes us a partner in this. We’re in a period of transition, where, before, we basically said, the best way we can help Israel towards a future of peace is to always know we have their back, they’ll do the right thing. But now we have seen what has transpired in the West Bank with the daily de facto annexation through highways and settlements and outposts. We’ve seen that the despair has bred violence. We’ve got to be engaged towards a better future.”

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