CNN’s Christiane Amanpour tried to pressure Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Saturday into agreeing that South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice is “pretty conclusive” and wondered if the U.S. could stop the “mass killings” conducted, not by Hamas, but allegedly by Israel.
The entire reason why Van Hollen was on was because he is one of the Democrats pressuring the Biden Administration from the left on Israel’s way waging the war, but even still, he was far from convinced South Africa’s case had any merit, claiming there’s a difference between “individual statements” and the Israeli government’s actual intent.
That did not sit well with Amanpour, who felt cherry-picking was a completely fair way to go about the case, “And just to read one -- you say the government of Israel, but, you know, there's a deputy speaker of their parliament, the Knesset, who said ‘now we all have one common goal erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.’ That's pretty conclusive language.”
Van Hollen repeated his earlier point, “Well, there have been absolutely outrageous statements by numerous Israeli politicians… but again, there's a difference between citing individual members -- I mean, members of Congress sometimes make outrageous statements, so a distinction between that and the actions of the government of Israel and the intent of the government of Israel. I assume that will be a lot of what the case is about and what judges will look at.”
Taking the premise that Israel’s campaign needs to be curtailed for granted, Amanpour then asked, “Do you believe the administration has enough leverage because it keeps sending the Secretary of State and other officials to try to rein in the Israeli counteroffensive, to stop the carpet bombing and to be more targeted to avoid the mass killings in Gaza.”
Here Van Hollen was able to hit the administration from the left:
Well Christiane, I do believe that the Biden administration could exercise U.S. leverage more effectively. They have succeeded in getting the Netanyahu government to make some very small changes in their conduct, but not nearly enough to achieve Secretary Blinken's goal and President Biden's goal of dramatically reducing the number of civilian casualties. We're now up to over 22,000 people dead, two-thirds of them women and children.
And not enough leverage to get the kind of humanitarian assistance into Gaza that's needed to address a desperate situation that's getting worse. So, I believe the Biden Administration could and should be using more effective use of its leverage, of American leverage, to accomplish our objectives.
Amanpour, whose self-selected mantra is “be truthful, not neutral,” did not respond by pointing out that Van Hollen was using Hamas’s fake casualty numbers.
Here is a transcript for the January 13 show:
CNN The Amanpour Hour
1/13/2024
11:04 AM ET
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And just to read one -- you say the government of Israel, but, you know, there's a deputy speaker of their parliament, the Knesset, who said “now we all have one common goal erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.” That's pretty conclusive language.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, there have been absolutely outrageous statements by numerous Israeli politicians calling this Nakba Two, many talking about forced displacement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, equating every Palestinian with Hamas, but again, there's a difference between citing individual members -- I mean, members of Congress sometimes make outrageous statements, so a distinction between that and the actions of the government of Israel and the intent of the government of Israel. I assume that will be a lot of what the case is about and what judges will look at.
AMANPOUR: So, let me ask you because you represent the United States, you've just come from the region. The U.S. is Israel's closest ally, but clearly it's causing disruptions for the Biden Administration even within his own party, the Democrats, your own party.
Do you believe the administration has enough leverage because it keeps sending the Secretary of State and other officials to try to rein in the Israeli counteroffensive, to stop the carpet bombing and to be more targeted to avoid the mass killings in Gaza.
VAN HOLLEN: Well Christiane, I do believe that the Biden administration could exercise U.S. leverage more effectively. They have succeeded in getting the Netanyahu government to make some very small changes in their conduct, but not nearly enough to achieve Secretary Blinken's goal and President Biden's goal of dramatically reducing the number of civilian casualties. We're now up to over 22,000 people dead, two-thirds of them women and children.
And not enough leverage to get the kind of humanitarian assistance into Gaza that's needed to address a desperate situation that's getting worse. So, I believe the Biden Administration could and should be using more effective use of its leverage, of American leverage, to accomplish our objectives.
