Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by using a controversial phrase in a Senate Appropriations Committee hear on Tuesday, suggesting that Netanyahu supported Hamas in order to stop the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Since October 7, Van Hollen has stood out among his fellow Democrats for his criticism to Israel. His party, also, has shifted leftwards on the matter, but Van Hollen’s personal criticisms are more forceful and unyielding than most.
Antony Blinken, the State Department’s secretary of state, was being questioned by Van Hollen about the State Department funds.
He said:
So — I want to read to you something else that now- Prime Minister Netanyahu said back in 2019 at a Likud]Party ] meeting, and this has been well- reported ]sic], and I quote:” Anyone who wants to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state needs to support strengthening Hamas. This is a component of our plan to break the Palestinians between those in Judea and Samaria and those in Gaza.
The phrase was refuted by a cause close to Netanyahu who spoke to Breitbart News.
Van Hollen also disregarded Hamas ‘ repeated attacks on despair and claimed that the vast majority of Israelis oppose a Palestinian state, a trend that was reversed a decade ago.
But he made a more fundamental blunder: the Netanyahu offer itself does not appear to be true.
It was cited in an view content in the UK , Guardian, which in turn linked to a Audio post, which in turn cited a column in , Ha’aretz, a quit- wing Jewish regular newspaper, whose writers hate Netanyahu.
The estimate in that row appears to have come from people who claimed to have heard Netanyahu say something similar.
There are many variations of the offer. In a statement on Wednesday night, Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel called for Netanyahu to step down.
The Palestinian Authority’s continued support of shipping resources to Gaza is a principled principle that [Netanyahu] stated in 2019:” Whoever opposes a Palestinian state must support the establishment of a Palestinian condition.”
Emanuel, like Van Hollen, did never identify the cause of the offer.
Ian Bremmer, a kept- of- core social commentator, cited a similar quotation in October 2023:
This “quote” comes from Al Jazeera ( citing Ha’aretz? ) and sounds second-hand rumors from people who are angry to Netanyahu. It dates to earlier discussions about whether Qatar should support Hamas ( as the earth demanded ) in order to stop the service from failing in Gaza. Bibi did not” create” Hamas. https ://t.co/21jnxdyy1k
— Joel Pollak ( @joelpollak ) October 29, 2023
Years prior, the Israeli government had been subjected to pressure to help Qatar to provide cash to the Hamas management in Gaza. It agreed, given that Hamas was potentially liable for the charitable needs of the human community, and given concerns at the time that Hamas was been replaced by the therefore- called” Islamic State”, or ISIS, if it collapsed.
A humanitarian catastrophe on Israel’s borders was also the goal of the funds going to Gaza. There were concerns that diseases in Gaza might have caused harm to Israel if basic services like water and infrastructure had not been funded.
However, there is no proof that Netanyahu purposefully supported Hamas in order to stop the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor- at- Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p. m. to 10 p. m. ET ( 4 p. m. to 7 p. m. PT ). He is the author of the recent e- book,” The Zionist Conspiracy ( and how to join it )”, now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e- book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U. S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.