Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington issued a warning to President Biden over his response to the Israel-Hamas war.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the progressive “squad” member spoke about how the conflict could affect his 2024 reelection chances.
While emphasizing that she has supported Biden on numerous domestic policy issues, she said he may be “challenged to explain an issue of this moral significance to the American people.”
"The American people are actually quite far away from where the president and even the majority of Congress has been on Israel and Gaza,” she argued.
“[Americans] support the right for Israel to defend itself and to exist, but they do not support a war crime exchanged for another war crime, and I think the president has to be careful about that,” Jayapal continued. “I would call on him...to bring us to a higher place.”
Polling shows Americans not only support Israel but also many of the countermeasures they're taking in the wake of the brutal Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Given Americans’ sympathies for Israelis, it makes sense that they also approve of Israel’s retaliation against Hamas’s attacks. SSRS/CNN found that 50 percent of Americans thought the Israeli government’s military response was fully justified, and another 20 percent thought it was partially justified. And a YouGov/The Economist survey from Oct. 14-17 found that only 18 percent of Americans thought the Israeli government’s response has been too harsh; 32 percent thought it was about right, and 22 percent thought it was not harsh enough.
J.L. Partners/DailyMail.com, polling Oct. 10-12, also asked Americans about specific measures that Israel could or is taking against Palestine. The most popular countermeasure was conducting airstrikes on Hamas targets; 60 percent of respondents to the poll felt that that was a reasonable response by Israel. By contrast, 50 percent said that a full invasion and occupation of the Gaza Strip was reasonable, and 45 percent said that a blockade of electricity, food, water and fuel was reasonable.
Not only do Americans support the Israeli government’s response, but they also want their own government to come to Israel’s aid. Seventy-one percent of Americans told YouGov/The Economist that protecting Israel was a very or somewhat important U.S. policy goal. And Quinnipiac University’s Oct. 12-16 survey found that 76 percent of registered voters thought supporting Israel was in the U.S. national interest.
Perhaps that’s because 53 percent of Americans said they believed that U.S. support for Israel makes the Middle East safer, according to the aforementioned Marist/NPR/PBS NewsHour poll. (ABC News)
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WATCH: @RepJayapal (D-Wash.) has been "one of President Biden's biggest supporters" but worries that his response to Israel will cost him support from Arab and Muslim voters.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 29, 2023
"I am certainly concerned about his approach. … He needs to call us to a higher moral place." pic.twitter.com/VT4jTCmgG6
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