Bowman: We Should ‘Build a Palestinian State’ with Our Resources Instead of ‘Peace Through Strength’ Approach

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CBS’s “The Late Show,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) responded to a question on America’s role in the Israel-Hamas conflict by stating that “We have a foreign policy that pretty much follows the idea of peace through strength, and what that means is we need to have a very strong military so that we can scare other countries into doing what we say. I wish we would use our wealth and our resources and our means to lead with diplomacy.” And we should “build a Palestinian state” with our resources.

Host Stephen Colbert asked, “What do you think the United States’ role is in exercising what power and influence we have to try to make this peace come about or to achieve a two-state solution? We’ve been trying it for so many years, we’ve been involved for so many years. Ultimately, what do you think our job is, and how can we best use our position in the world?”

Bowman answered, “We have a foreign policy that pretty much follows the idea of peace through strength, and what that means is we need to have a very strong military so that we can scare other countries into doing what we say. I wish we would use our wealth and our resources and our means to lead with diplomacy. That’s what I wish. We already have the mightiest military. Can we use our resources to fight climate change? Can we use our resources to make sure every child has clean water? Can we use our resources, in this particular case, to actually build a Palestinian state through policy, but also through resources?”

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