Phillips in new interview straddles the line on Israel-Hamas war

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) straddled the line on the war between Israel and Hamas in a recent interview with NewsNation’s Dan Abrams.

Phillips, who is Jewish, said he is friends with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the first Palestinian-American member of Congress who was censured over her statements criticizing Israel, and said the war is painful for the Jewish community as well as the Muslim and Palestinian community.

“We have different life experiences, but we recognize that at the end of the day, this is about humanity,” Phillips’ said of the lawmakers’ upbringings and family ties to the conflict. “And I take a lot of heat from the Jewish community for even saying I’m a friend of Rashida Tlaib’s, but I’ll tell you, this is…what future leaders need to do with each other.”

Phillips said he disagrees with Tlaib on the issue but said members of Congress have to work together. Phillips announced in a 2024 White House bid in October.

He continued, saying the disagreement among members on how to handle and respond to the war points to why Congress is dysfunctional. Members are not following what the founding fathers wanted, which was for people to debate and deliberate, Phillips said.

“We might not see things the same way, we’re not supposed to see things the same way,” he continued. “But if the approach is to simply refuse to engage, to turn your backs, to believe that you can beat the other side into oblivion, that’s why we find ourselves in such a dangerous place in our history.”

The Minnesota lawmaker continued, saying that if Americans can’t overcome differences on the issue first and then in the Middle East, “we are in deep, deep trouble.”

Abrams pressed Phillips on if he called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, to which he avoided answering at first and said “Hamas must release all the hostages.”

“There needs to be a cease-fire, Dan, and Hamas has to be eliminated, two things can be true,” he later said.

NewsNation is a cable news channel owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.