Key House Democrat says US is ‘not abandoning Israel’ while upping pressure on Netanyahu

Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top House Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, sought to clarify the U.S. is “not abandoning Israel” as U.S. leaders increase pressure on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.

“Fundamentally, with President Biden who’s making the decisions right now, I think it’s true we are not abandoning Israel; we recognize the threats that Israel faces from Hezbollah, from Iran, also from Hamas,” he said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday with Chris Stirewalt.”

“Hamas who has, by and large, gotten a pass here in the last three or four months on the conflict,” he continued. “So we do recognize that the pressure is on getting Israel to recognize the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to recognize the fact that they could make that less bad. They could change their tactics while at the same time not abandoning the fight against Hamas.”

Smith’s remarks come as the U.S. escalates pressure on Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the military’s wartime operations following the deaths of humanitarian aid workers.

An Israeli airstrike last Monday killed six workers with the World Central Kitchen and their Palestinian driver as they were leaving a warehouse in central Gaza, where they delivered about 100 tons of food aid. The group was driving in armored cars labeled with World Central Kitchen logos when the strike hit.

Biden issued his sharpest criticism of Netanyahu after the attack, warning U.S. policy on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza would now be determined by “immediate” steps Israel needs to take to reduce an “unacceptable” humanitarian situation. The conversation marked a notable change from Biden and his team since the war broke out last October when Hamas killed nearly 1,200 in a surprise attack.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, in a separate Sunday morning interview, said there is growing frustration in the Biden administration over the way the Israeli military is running its operations.

Smith noted Sunday the U.S. is. not looking for Israel to “walk away from trying to meet their security needs.”

“We’re saying that the way they’re doing it isn’t necessary,” he said. “Because they could be doing more to allow humanitarian assistance in and then once it’s in, make sure it gets to who needs it. That’s where the pressure is coming from right now.”

Updated at 1:06 p.m. EDT