JERUSALEM — On a mission in Israel organized by Relief Resources, matching up providers of and patients in need of mental health care, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) sat down on March 20 with a small group of journalists in Jerusalem to discuss Israel’s war, his steadfast support for the Jewish state and the US-Israel relationship.
Fetterman was unequivocal when asked about taking military action to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities. “I don’t think you can really effectively negotiate with that regime,” he said, suggesting that using military force is the only option.
Pressed further, Fetterman said, “Oh yeah. Blow it up! Blow it up! I think we should waste what’s left of their nuclear facilities.”
When asked directly whether he would support the US joining Israel in such an operation, he confirmed he would back “partnering with Israel in that way . . . [with] whatever tools from the US, I would fully support that. Yeah, so however you describe that partnership, I fully support it,” Fetterman said.
“I support that, and I think there is really a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do that after it’s been demonstrated that Iran lacks the capabilities to really project their threats,” he added.
Fetterman expressed disappointment in members of his party who have distanced themselves from Israel.
“My party has, some of them, chosen to back away from supporting Israel,” he said. “I’ve always refused to pander to other factions.”
He criticized Democrats who attempt to equivocate on the issue, urging them to “stand with civilization, stand with democracy.”
Fetterman went on to suggest that “my party was punished” during the recent elections for failing to be “unapologetically supportive of Israel.” He pointed to Michigan, a state with a strong Muslim community and a progressive, Palestinian-American
Cong. Rashida Tlaib as one of the swing states that voted for Donald Trump. “How ironic . . . Does Rep. Tlaib just sit there while she [holds a] paddle and yelling during [Netanyahu’s] joint address, when you helped elect Trump. Do you really actually process this?”
When asked whether the Palestinian Authority should be classified as a terrorist organization for continuing its “Pay for Slay” policy — paying terrorists who attack Israeli civilians — Fetterman’s response was unfiltered.
“That’s disgusting,” he said. “I’ve read interviews where one of them, they’re like, ‘Hey, that’s controversial to stop paying people that kill innocent civilians.’ What’s wrong with you?”
He added that in the recent negotiations with Hamas, “Israel is forced to release prisoners that killed innocent civilians and they are cheered like heroes. I hope Israel never forgets or forgives. I hope they finish them out later.
“Look at the optics — when they release hostages, they cheer it like a Steeler game. And cheering even a casket of a child that they beat to death. That’s perverse.”
Fetterman was adamant about prioritizing the return of hostages taken on Oct. 7. “There are human beings still in tunnels right now as we speak,” he said. “And now Israel was forced back to start the kinds of war back in Gaza. Well, it’s because . . . Hamas doesn’t want peace. They don’t want peace because they all understand that what they have left is keeping those poor people in tunnels. And that’s outrageous.
“They have been there for over 500 days. And yet, we have people in my party preoccupied with an activist at Columbia University? That individual gets his meals, a bed, a lawyer and due process. The hostages have none of that. None.
“For me, Columbia University was kind of ground zero of that monoculture run amok and allowed anti-Semitism to take over,” he stated.
To “allow mob rule is not free speech, creating tent cities to create that kinds of chaos and terrorize Jewish students.”
Fetterman said that he “met with Jewish students across the country and they’ve reached out and it’s like, they don’t deserve to live like that.”
When asked whether he believes there is a moderate liberal force among Palestinians that could rule Gaza, Fetterman suggested that the Palestinian people should reject their present leadership amid an integrated regional approach to peace.
Of Netanyahu, Fetterman said, “If you have a choice and our ally, a Democratic-elected leader, well, I’m definitely going to stand on that side.”
He acknowledged that within the the Democratic Party, support for Israel has waned.
“More and more, being anti-Israel is becoming part of progressive politics,” he said. “That’s pathetic.”
While many Israelis consider Fetterman a hero for standing up for Israel, the senator didn’t want any such distinction.
“I’m just doing a job and these are my values,” he said. “I’ve met people where they’ve lost their husbands, two women, they both have eight children. I describe that as courage. Raising eight children after your husband was lost defending Israel. Or children that are able to play on the same sacred space [a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams] that [12] children were murdered from a rocket. That’s courage.”
Fetterman called for strengthened US support for Israel, rejecting any notion that his party should distance itself from the Jewish state.
“I refuse to turn my back on Israel . . . I will continue to be that voice in my party.”
He said his visit to Israel further solidified his beliefs, describing the nation as a beacon of democracy in a hostile region. “People need to see what they’ve created here,” he said. “They don’t deserve to have to constantly defend that way of life. That’s why we must remain one of Israel’s strongest allies.”
