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Pelosi Demands Israeli PM Netanyahu ‘Resign’ Amid War With Hamas

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that the duly elected prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, should “resign” because he has chosen to defend his country after being invaded by Hamas forces in October.

In an interview published on Monday, the long-serving California Democrat pointed the finger at Netanyahu after the recent resignation of the intelligence chief of the Israel Defense Forces over failures surrounding the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack.

“We recognize Israel’s right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu — terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response?” Pelosi, D-Calif., told Irish broadcaster RTÉ’s Six One News.

“He should resign. He’s ultimately responsible,” she added, according to NBC News.

The Irish outlet then remarkably asked Pelosi if she thought Netanyahu was an “obstacle” to peace, despite the fact that his country was attacked. She responded: “I don’t know whether he’s afraid of peace, incapable of peace, or just doesn’t want peace. But he has been an obstacle to the two-state solution.”

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NBC noted further:

Earlier this month, Pelosi joined more than three dozen members of Congress who signed a letter urging President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “reconsider” a recent decision to authorize a new arms package transfer to Israel.

The lawmakers had called for the U.S. to withhold future arms transfers until it completes a full investigation into the airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers this month.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to local health officials. The Israeli government has said that about 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, with about 250 hostages taken, though it’s unclear how many are still alive.

It’s also not clear how many of the Palestinians were Hamas fighters or were being used by Hamas fighters as human shields, which is a common practice there, according to other outlets including the Washington Post.

“Hamas does use civilians as shields, and it is crucial to understand that fact. As a Nov. 5 Post editorial observed, the group ‘has consciously exposed noncombatants to danger by provoking Israel militarily — while protecting its own leaders and fighters in tunnels,'” the Post said in an op-ed. “In 2014, The Post reported that al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, now the site of Israeli-Hamas fighting, ‘has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.'”

It added: “This Hamas practice is not new, and neither are efforts to distract from it with spurious claims of racism.”

The op-ed continued:

This war tactic poses agonizing moral dilemmas for anyone concerned about protecting civilian lives. But Hamas itself makes no bones about how it fights Israel. One official of the terrorist group, Moussa Abu Marzook, recently stressed that Gaza’s tunnel network is for protecting Hamas fighters and declared the United Nations responsible for protecting Gazan civilians.

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Khaled Meshal, a Hamas leader, explained his openness to mass Palestinian death in pursuit of Hamas’s political aims, saying that millions were killed during the Vietnam War and other guerrilla conflicts.

“The group has guns and rockets and antitank weapons, but not F-16s or precision-guided munitions. If its fighters squared off against the IDF in the open desert, they would be annihilated swiftly. But the deterrent effect of human shields is powerful. It’s one reason Israel never tried to destroy the terrorist group despite its attacks until the scale of its butchery on Oct. 7 left leaders in Jerusalem no choice,” the op-ed noted further.

The House had passed the $95 billion aid package on Saturday, and the Senate voted to approve it on Tuesday.

The package includes $26 billion in aid to Israel and humanitarian relief for Gaza. It is anticipated that President Biden will sign the measure into law.

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