O’Rourke says he would work with Netanyahu if elected president

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said he would work with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he’s elected president, voicing openness to working with a leader criticized by many Democrats.

“I would do everything I could to work with Prime Minister Netanyahu if he is in power and if I am lucky enough to serve as president, and to support the U.S.-Israel relationship,” O’Rourke said in an interview with Haaretz published Thursday.

{mosads}Several 2020 Democrats have panned Netanyahu over his policies regarding the Palestinians, with O’Rourke blasting him as “racist” in April and saying, “We must be able to transcend his current leadership.”

The Texas Democrat doubled down on his support for the two-state solution this week, noting that his potential efforts to work with Netanyahu are “not mutually exclusive to ensuring that the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people is not compromised or undermined or ended all together.”

“It is the only way that I think you achieve those goals of human dignity and security, self-determination and the safety that people should be able to depend on in their day-to-day lives,” he told Haaretz.

While the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem continues to enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, Netanyahu in particular has come under withering criticism from Democrats over the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The prime minister was further criticized for his recent decision to block Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from visiting Israel over the support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. 

Across the aisle, Netanyahu has seen his stock among the GOP rise due to his close relationship with President Trump. Jerusalem scored significant wins after Trump declared last year the U.S. would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital city and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights this year.