On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) stated that he hopes any ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah will come “after Hezbollah is severely degraded, pushed north of the Litani River, and forced to give up its most sophisticated long-range missile.”
Host Dan Abrams asked, “Now, let me ask you a somewhat political question, if the Israelis had heeded President Biden and Vice President Harris’ call for a ceasefire earlier, [the killing of Hassan Nasrallah] would not have happened. Were they wrong?”
Sherman responded, “That was Israel’s position up until recently. Israel was attacked from the south. They didn’t want a battle in the north. They turned to Hezbollah and said, don’t fire. Let’s — we’re not going to fire at you, you don’t fire at us. And after almost a year of Hezbollah making parts of northern Israel uninhabitable, Israel finally responded. And, eventually, there will be a ceasefire. But hopefully, that will be after Hezbollah is severely degraded, pushed north of the Litani River, and forced to give up its most sophisticated long-range missile.”
Sherman added, “Look, war is terrible. We all want it to end. And a ceasefire that involved Hezbollah moving north of the Litani River, as, believe it or not, the U.N. resolution — the U.N., not exactly a pro-Israel organization — requires them to do, a ceasefire where they give up their long-range missiles, I think that’s the ultimate objective. Israel doesn’t want to be fighting Hezbollah forever. They want their northern areas to be safe, and that could be accomplished rather quickly. It should have been accomplished on…October 7 of last year.”
He further stated that the differences between Biden and Israel are exaggerated, because “Hezbollah has not agreed to a ceasefire. Hezbollah is nowhere close to agreeing to a ceasefire. Hezbollah is going to be striking Israel, all it can, for many weeks. And I don’t think anyone suggests that there’s a ceasefire that’s one-sided. So, Israel will need to take action. They’re taking action now. Northern Israel has to be made safe. Eventually, we would all want peace. And, keep in mind, if Hezbollah had come a month ago and said, we want a ceasefire, we’re going to stop shooting, Israel certainly would have agreed to that, and Nasrallah would be alive. So, his efforts to keep killing Israeli civilians [have] led to his death.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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