Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) pushed back on Sunday against President Joe Biden’s reported warning to Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not join in an attack against Iran, repeating his monthslong refrain that the U.S. should unconditionally support Israel.
“It’s astonishing that we are not standing firmly with Israel,” Fetterman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union. “There should never be any time for conditions—all of that when a nation can launch hundreds of drones towards Israel—and I’m not going to be talking about conditions ever.”
Tapper asked Fetterman whether he agreed with Biden’s decision to tell Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to “take the win” for intercepting Iran’s missiles and drones, and his discouragement of an Israeli response, as reported by Axios and others. Fetterman said that, while he still supported the president, he disagreed with Biden and urged him to maintain full-throated support for Israel.
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“The president is entitled to his own views and whatever he decides to do, but I would never capitulate to the fringe,” Fetterman said. “In fact, that helps—that empowers Hamas, and Hamas is actually convinced that they are winning the PR war, and they’re never going to negotiate at this point. They think that they’re going to hold onto the very end.”
Fetterman has emerged as one of a faction of elected Democrats who maintain total support for Israel despite the country’s bombardment of Gaza after the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas. The war in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health. Still, Fetterman has remained unequivocal, even as his support among younger voters waned earlier this year.
