Dem Rep. Crow: Israel’s ‘Failed’ Strategy Helped Increase Escalation with Iran

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) said Israel should drastically change its strategy because “Israel is not more safe now than it was several months ago, as a result of their failed strategy. We have increasing escalation with Iran, the risk of a wider regional war is higher than it’s ever been, U.S. national security interests are not being served either.” And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “helped escalate” tensions in the region.

Crow said, “I’ve been pushing for months and months and months for a drastic change in Israel’s strategy, and the reason why is because it’s serving nobody’s interests. Israel is not more safe now than it was several months ago, as a result of their failed strategy. We have increasing escalation with Iran, the risk of a wider regional war is higher than it’s ever been, U.S. national security interests are not being served either. So, I want a very large reassessment, and that includes the provision of offensive aid. And then so far as the Israelis are not listening to us or not responding to our requests, our push for a massive change, then we need to reassess whether or not we continue to give the aid that would allow that to continue.”

He added, “I agree that Prime Minister Netanyahu must go. He’s not the leader that’s going to take Israel forward. He is a failed leader in every respect. He’s not made Israel safer, he’s helped escalate regional tensions, he’s not listening to us, and he is, in my view, in large part, responsible for this massive humanitarian catastrophe that we are seeing. But when we talk about winning against Hamas, you can’t do that just militarily. We learned that from our own 20-year war on terror. If we were able to defeat terrorism with military force alone, we would have been able to do it over our 20-year, three-trillion-dollar war against terrorism that the United States has been undergoing. So, we have to address the humanitarian issues, we have to address Palestinian statehood, we have to give people hope for the future, and until we do that and figure out a diplomatic solution, as well, militarily, we will just keep on spinning our wheels.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett