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JD Vance Says US, Israel Sometimes Have ‘Distinct Interests,’ Underscores Importance of Avoiding War With Iran
Then-US Senate candidate JD Vance, now the 2024 Republican vice-presidential nominee, speaks as GOP presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump smiles at a rally, in Dayton, Ohio, US, Nov. 7, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
US vice presidential nominee JD Vance has appeared to temper a potential Trump administration’s support for Israel during a recent interview, arguing that the US and Jewish state can at times have conflicting interests and warning that Washington should seek to avoid a war with Iran, the Jewish state’s chief adversary in the Middle East.
During the nearly hour-and-a-half interview with podcaster Tim Dillon, Vance stated that although he believes Israel has the right to defend itself from threats, there are instances in which the Jewish state’s military goals could conflict with US interests.
“Israel has the right to defend itself, but America’s interest is sometimes going to be distinct — like sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests and sometimes we’re going to have distinct interests, and our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran,” Vance said.
The Republican senator from Ohio argued that a war between Iran and the US would be a significant resource drain on the American military.
“It would be [a] huge distraction of resources; it would be massively expensive to our country,” Vance said.
US intelligence agencies have for years labeled Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, noting it devotes significant sums of money and weapons each year to supporting proxies across the Middle East such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Reflecting on Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel last year, Vance said that he and his wife felt “worried” for their personal friends who live in the Jewish state. The senator then claimed that many American supporters of Israel “were actually much more militaristic than the Israelis that were actually living in Israel” following the Hamas atrocities and suggested that, in the immediate aftermath of the onslaught, American allies of the Jewish state expressed enthusiasm to prosecute wars against Iran and Russia.
“We just have to be smarter, right? We have to be smarter. Now, I don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. And, I think we should be, like, strongly encouraging the Iranians, and using all the influence we have, to encourage them to not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
The senator underscored the importance of engaging in “smart diplomacy” to advance US interests without using military force. Vance used the Abraham Accords — a series of historic, US-brokered normalization agreements struck between Israel and several countries in the Arab world when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was in the White House — as examples of how the US government should secure peace between the Jewish state and its neighbors.
Vance’s comments raised eyebrows among many pro-Israel supporters on social media, with some arguing that the senator undermined the Trump campaign’s attempts to frame the former president as more supportive of the Jewish state than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In the months leading up to the election, Trump has aggressively courted Jewish voters, touting his administration’s previous work on the Abraham Accords and close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has also stated that his administration would deport non-American residents who participate in violent anti-Israel protests.
The post JD Vance Says US, Israel Sometimes Have ‘Distinct Interests,’ Underscores Importance of Avoiding War With Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Lawmakers Defend Conservative Pundit After He Makes ‘Pager’ Jab at Anti-Israel Commentator Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi Hasan. Photo: Screenshot
Some US lawmakers are rallying around conservative commentator Ryan Girdusky after CNN banned him from the network for taking a jab at anti-Israel journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday.
Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) both took to X/Twitter to defend Girdusky, praising his performance and arguing that CNN should have never platformed Hasan in the first place.
“[Hasan] spews antisemitism every day and calls Trump supporters Nazis, but God forbid anyone make a joke in his presence. He and CNN got triggered worse by a beeper than all of Hezbollah,” Mast posted. “CNN should issue an apology for rotting its viewers’ brains by having antisemitic morons like [ Hasan] on the air.”
Issa also weighed in, praising Girdusky and claiming that his presence made the program worth watching.
“It wasn’t easy, but I watched some CNN tonight. Thought [Girdusky] brought a lot to the program,” Issa wrote.
Monday, during an episode of “CNN NewsNight,” Hasan and Girdusky got into a contentious debate regarding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. While condemning the rhetoric shared by the speakers of the rally, Hasan compared supporters of Trump to “Nazis.”
Girdusky cautioned Hasan to tone down his rhetoric toward Trump supporters, noting that the pundit has been labeled an “antisemite” by many of his critics. Hasan responded that he’s “a supporter of the Palestinians, so [he’s] used to it.” Girdusky retorted that he hopes Hasan’s “beeper doesn’t go off,” a reference to the thousands of pagers and other communications devices used by members of the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah that exploded across Lebanon last month.
The panel discussion immediately deteriorated into chaos, and Girdusky was asked to leave the show by moderator Abby Phillips. CNN subsequently issued a statement condemning Girdusky for “racism” and vowing never to allow him on the network in the future.
Some commentators took to social media to question why CNN condemned Girdusky for making a joke about Hezbollah but not Hasan for insinuating that Trump supporters are Nazis.
Hasan, a prominent anti-Israel critic, has come under fire for having alleged ties to Qatar. Zeteo, Hasan’s new media startup, has produced an unremitting barrage of anti-Israel content, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” against Palestinians.
The post US Lawmakers Defend Conservative Pundit After He Makes ‘Pager’ Jab at Anti-Israel Commentator Mehdi Hasan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Man Severely Wounded in Crown Heights Stabbing Attack as Perpetrator Remains at Large
An ambulance used by Hatzalah in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
A visibly Jewish man was slashed in the face as he was walking through the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City on Tuesday morning.
The victim, a resident of Crown Heights in his late 20s, was approached by a black male in a ski mask who stabbed him without any provocation, according to a report from COLlive.com, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet. The victim survived and was taken to a local hospital in serious but stable condition.
“This is a very serious incident, and the Jewish Future Alliance is deeply concerned about it,” said Yaacov Berman, a liaison for Chabad Headquarters, on X/Twitter. “Witnesses at the scene testified that it was unprovoked. I just spoke to the family; he is hospitalized and requires surgery. The attacker allegedly yelled hateful rhetoric.”
Crown Heights Shmira, a public safety organization, is assisting the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in making sure the perpetrator is apprehended, according to COLlive.
Tuesday’s attack came two months after New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an analysis showing that antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crime incidents in New York City last year. Across the entire state, meanwhile, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims.
The surge in antisemitism in New York was also seen nationwide. Anti-Jewish hate crimes in the US spiked to a record high last year, and American Jews were the most targeted of any religious group in the country, according to a report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month.
Other reports have shown most of the antisemitic outrages occurred after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
The post Jewish Man Severely Wounded in Crown Heights Stabbing Attack as Perpetrator Remains at Large first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sanders Urges Progressives to Vote for Harris, Suggests She Can Be Pressured to ‘Change US Policy’ Against Israel
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday encouraged progressives to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, arguing that the current vice president could be pressured into changing her position on the Israel-Hamas war if she wins next week’s US presidential election.
“I understand that there are millions of Americans who disagree with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the terrible war in Gaza. I am one of them,” Sanders said in a newly released video shared on his social media channels. “Israel had a right to defend itself against a horrific Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7.”
Sanders, one of the most prominent anti-Israel critics in Congress, has vehemently condemned the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Hamas-ruled Gaza, from which the Palestinian terrorist group launched its brutal massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7. The Vermont independent was among the first US lawmakers to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and has also introduced a measure to block offensive arms transfers to Israel, accusing the Jewish state of waging “war against the Palestinian people.”
“Some of you are saying, ‘How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she is supporting this terrible war?’ And that is a very fair question,” Sanders said in his video.
Since officially replacing US President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket in July, Harris has faced a high-pressure campaign from progressive activists, urging her to adopt a more adversarial posture against Israel. Thus far, Harris has continued to voice nominal support for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Democratic nominee has also refused activist demands to endorse the implementation of an arms embargo against Israel.
However, Harris, whose record has raised concerns among allies of Israel, has also attempted to court votes from disillusioned Arab American voters across the United States. The Democratic nominee has made a point of expressing sympathy with civilians in Gaza during many of her speeches. The vice president reportedly held a secret meeting with Dearborn, Michigan Mayor Abdullah Hammoud in an attempt to repair relations with Michigan’s Arab American voting bloc.
Sanders argued that political progressives could successfully shift Harris’s position on Israel if the vice president wins the White House next week.
“I promise you, after Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change US policy toward [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Sanders said. “An immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, a surge of massive humanitarian aid, the stopping of settler attacks on the West Bank, and the rebuilding of Gaza for the Palestinian people.”
The progressive lawmaker cautioned his supporters that Republican nominee Donald Trump will be a more strident ally of Israel if he were to win the election.
“Donald Trump and his right-wing friends are worse,” Sanders said. “Trump has said Netanyahu is doing a good job and has said Biden is ‘holding him back.’ He has suggested that the Gaza Strip would make excellent beachfront property for development. And it is no wonder Netanyahu prefers to have Donald Trump in office.”
In addition, Sanders warned that a Trump victory could result in an erosion of progress in a litany of progressive priorities, including climate change and abortion rights.
“If Trump wins, to be honest with you, the struggle against climate change is over,” Sanders said. “While virtually every scientist who has studied the issue understands that climate change is real and an existential threat to our country and the world, Trump believes it is a hoax.”
The post Sanders Urges Progressives to Vote for Harris, Suggests She Can Be Pressured to ‘Change US Policy’ Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.