Exclusive — Thune on Meeting with Netanyahu: Democrats’ Anti-Israel Behavior Will Not Deter U.S. Support for Israel
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol, Thune told Breitbart News on Wednesday, a meeting in which Thune hopes to convey the importance of U.S.-Israel ties to deepen peace talks in the region.
Thune, in an interview on Wednesday, said ahead of the meeting that he will convey to Netanyahu that despite Democrats in Congress, including particularly in the U.S. Senate, repeatedly finding themselves on the opposite side of Israel that the United States stands firmly with Israel. Democrats, of course, recently voted in the U.S. Senate to tank a plan to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Israel is the U.S.’s greatest ally in the Middle East and the Democrats this last year have been very divided in supporting Israel throughout the conflict,” Thune told Breitbart News. “They seem to find more things like common cause with Hamas and some of these folks in the region that are responsible for the October 7 attack. If you recall this last summer, the last time Prime Minister Netanyahu was in the Capitol there were a lot of Democrats including Vice President Harry who boycotted his appearance. This time, the Prime Minister’s visit follows the Democrats’ vote last week to prop an illegitimate court, the International Criminal Court (ICC), because the Democrats didn’t want to defend Israel’s sovereignty or American troops who have been targeted by the ICC in the past. So, if and when they decide they want to take real action to protect our allies and prevent future targeting of American citizens we’re here for that, but until then we’re going to continue to do everything we can without Democrats to defend our allies and our nation. I think tomorrow that will be revisited in the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
With President Donald Trump back in the White House, lots of Middle Eastern leaders from across the region are hopeful there is a pathway back to the peacemaking seen in Trump’s first term through things like the Abraham Accords. Asked about this and whether he expects the push for more peace to be a topic of conversation with Netanyahu, Thune said “for sure.”
“Of course the Abraham Accords negotiated by President Trump in his first term were historic in terms of some of the relationships they built out in that region of the world,” Thune said. “I think my focus in this visit is in being a reliable, unwavering partner to and friend of Israel. We want to talk about getting all the hostages home and how we support Israel as it works to end once and for all the threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran and its malign shadow of terror in that region and how we can expand on what was a historic success of the Abraham Accords to try to create a safer and more prosperous future in that region. So this is a great opportunity to do that. Again, I don’t understand it but the Democrats in the Congress and certainly here in the Senate shot down something that got 42 votes in the House of Representatives that’s a bipartisan bill that sanctions the International Criminal Court that’s an illegitimate court that has targeted American citizens in the past. The Democrats are just out of step on so many issues right now including this one. I hope this meeting tomorrow with the Prime Minister gives us an opportunity to strengthen and further develop a relationship that I think has not only served the United States and Israel well but also other peace-loving countries in that region of the world.”
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