Breaking with the far-left flank of his party, Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) rejected public demands for a Gaza ceasefire amid Israel’s heightened war with Hamas and scolded fellow progressives for reflexively accepting the since-debunked claim that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza Tuesday night.
“It’s truly disturbing that Members of Congress rushed to blame Israel for the hospital tragedy in Gaza. Who would take the word of a group that just massacred innocent Israeli civilians over our key ally?” Fetterman wrote on X on Wednesday.
Israeli and U.S. officials have since confirmed Palestinian militants were behind the Tuesday strike.
During Wednesday afternoon’s pro-Palestinian rally at the Capitol, Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) again blamed the Jewish state for the hospital blast, after initially blaming Israel in a social-media post immediately after news of the explosion broke.
Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) also jumped in on the false claim Tuesday on X, saying Biden “needs to push for an immediate ceasefire to end this slaughter” after the Gaza hospital was bombed.
Omar, Tlaib and their fellow “Squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have all insisted that the Biden administration should pressure Israel into accepting a ceasefire before Hamas can be neutralized. Fetterman rejected that argument in a separate thread on X.
“We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children,” he said. “Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized.”
The Pennsylvania congressman added he intends to work with the Senate to “quickly deliver the aid our ally Israel needs,” which includes quickly confirming Jack Lew to become the next U.S. ambassador to Israel amid the ongoing conflict. Lew, who was picked by Biden for the position, faced opposition from Senate Republicans on Wednesday over his past involvement in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration.