Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged a tougher American stance if Israelis reelect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which was fully backed by Democratic Party during its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
"So if the Israelis want to vote for that again, then I think the United States has to take a very tough position," Clinton told broadcaster MS Now, referring to Israel's October 27 general elections.
Clinton pointed to media reports saying that Netanyahu got a warning from the United Arab Emirates before October 7, 2023 about Hamas’ plans to carry out a raid across the fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
Netanyahu either did not believe the warning or thought about how he could use the scenario to his advantage so he could "come down hard," which "would enhance his position," she said.
"This was a failure of leadership. This was a failure of protecting the people of Israel," Clinton said about Netanyahu, who is being sought by the International Criminal Court over "war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza."
"I have said repeatedly, I love Israel and I hate Netanyahu's government and his policies,” she said.
"I love America and I hate Trump's government and policies," she added about President Donald Trump, her opponent in the 2016 election, which she lost, setting Trump up for his first term in office.
Clinton, however, did not discuss former President Joe Biden and her Democratic Party’s central role in enabling Israel's genocide in Gaza through massive arms transfers and diplomatic backing. Human rights groups and critics argue that this support made the US government under Biden complicit in mass slaughter of Palestinians and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Settler violence in West Bank
Clinton also said it could really make a difference if Netanyahu was no longer premier: "I would hope that a new prime minister would crack down on settler violence in the West Bank. There should be no impunity for that kind of violence."
She warned that letting people having that level of violence in a society is "unfair and wrong" for the Palestinians while also "very dangerous" to Israel.
"Anytime you let people have that level of violence in a society, that you don't stop, that creeps into the whole society," Clinton said.
Clinton’s remarks come amid escalating attacks by the Israeli army and illegal Zionist settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023.
Palestinian authorities have documented killings, abductions, home demolitions, attacks on mosques and vehicles, destruction of agricultural land, restrictions on farmers’ access to their property, and forced displacement.
Palestinians warn that Israeli mass atrocities and settler violence are paving the way for the formal annexation of the occupied West Bank, which would undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state under UN resolutions.
