Progressive California Democrat Ro Khanna warned Sunday that Joe Biden is running out of time to win over young voters opposed to his administration’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict and that he will not attend Benjamin Netanyahu‘s speech to Congress next month.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Rep. Khanna said the erosion of support the US president is seeing among young voters is a “challenge for our party” and that Democrats are “out of time” to rebuild support . “more people die” in the conflict.
“We must not forget the humanitarian interests,” he said. “Young people want the war to end. But what young people want is a vision, and the president started that with a ceasefire. I hope he can move on. He should call for two states. He should say in his second term that he will convene a peace conference in the Middle East, recognize a Palestinian state without Hamas and work with Egypt and Saudi Arabia on this.”
Khanna said he would “not attend a one-way lecture” from the Israeli prime minister during his address to a joint session of Congress scheduled for July 24, but “if he wants to come speak to members of Congress about how I can end the war and can release hostages, I would do that just fine.”
Khanna echoed the views of congressional colleague Jim Clyburn, who said last week he would also not attend, and referred to the feud between Netanyahu and Barack Obama over Palestinian statehood and the US push for a nuclear deal with Iran.
“How he treated President Obama, he should not expect reciprocity,” Khanna said, adding that Netanyahu should be treated with “decorum” by the legislature. “We’re not going to make a big deal out of it,” he added.
Khanna called on Biden to put more pressure on Netanyahu over a UN-endorsed ceasefire proposal, which is backed by the US and the Arab League.
“Benny Ganz says we should prioritize the hostage agreement and peace,” Khanna said, referring to Israel’s National Unity chairman. Bennie Gantz who resigned from Netanyahu’s coalition government. “Netanyahu says they want to destroy all of Hamas, and I don’t think that’s feasible.”
Khanna’s comments come as political divisions between progressive and centrist Democrats over Israel and Gaza are being exposed by a key congressional race in suburban New York, pitting Bernie Sanders-backed progressive Democrat Jamaal Bowman against George Latimer, a centrist who was supported by Hillary Clinton. last week.
The battle between the two Democratic candidates in New York’s 16th district could lead to different positions on Israel’s action against Gaza, which Sanders has called “ethnic cleansing” and Bowman a “genocide.” Clinton has said that American pro-Palestinian protesters “don’t know much” about the Middle East and that a complete ceasefire would “perpetuate the cycle of violence.”
