Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called this week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down over the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, blasting him as an “obstacle” to peace and further illustrating the growing rift between Democrats and the Jewish state’s head of government.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) panned Netanyahu in an interview with Irish outlet RTÉ Monday for the security failures that led to the surprise assault that killed an estimated 1,200 people — including 33 Americans.
“His intelligence person resigned, he should resign,” Pelosi told the broadcaster’s “Six One” news program during a visit to the Emerald Isle.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, Israel’s head of military intelligence, resigned Monday, saying his department “did not live up to the task we were entrusted with” and “I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever.”
Pelosi, 84, didn’t hesitate when asked if she believes Netanyahu has been an “obstacle” to peace in the Middle East.
“Oh, he has been for years. I don’t know whether he’s afraid of peace, incapable of peace, or just doesn’t want peace. But he has been an obstacle to the two-state solution,” the Californian said. “He’s been a problem.”
Pelosi’s jab at Netanyahu echoes a March 14 speech from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest-ranked elected Jewish official in the US, in which the Brooklyn Democrat said the Netanyahu government “no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7.”
At the time, Pelosi hailed Schumer’s incendiary remarks as “an act of courage, an act of love for Israel.”
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