CNN’s Zakaria: Israel ‘Doesn’t Need the US’ As An Ally – They Need the US ‘To Have Credibility With the Palestinians’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” CNN “GPS” host Fareed Zakaria argued that Israel doesn’t need the US as an ally anymore “in the sense that they’re the most powerful force on the ground,” and needs the US to have “credibility” with the Palestinians so that negotiations are meaningful.

Zakaria said, “[F]or the Israelis, the most valuable role the United States can play is as an honest broker. Israel doesn’t need, you know, the United States as an ally anymore in the sense that they’re the most powerful force on the ground, by far. Israel is sort of a regional superpower. And compared to the Palestinians, the disproportion is now just gigantic. What they need is for the United States to have credibility with the Palestinians, so that there can be a meaningful negotiation. If the United States is seen as blatantly one-sided, it doesn’t help. And by the way, this is an issue [moving the embassy to Jerusalem] on which the United States would be siding not with Israel, but with the current Israeli government.”

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