More than mere condemnation, the statement almost sounded like a bitter breakup with an old friend. And it’s not hard to see why — until recently, Warren held stridently pro-Israel views.
She supported the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2014, blaming Hamas even as Israeli forces killed more than two thousand Palestinians, most of them civilians and children. In her defense of the military assault, Warren sounded more like a spokesperson for right-wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu than a progressive US senator: “When Hamas puts its rocket launchers next to hospitals, next to schools, they’re using their civilian population to protect their military assets. And I believe Israel has a right, at that point, to defend itself. We have an interest in Israel defending itself and surviving.”
Parroting pro-Israeli talking points, Warren continued: “America has a very special relationship with Israel. Israel lives in a very dangerous part of the world, and a part of the world where there aren’t any liberal democracies and democracies that are controlled by the rule of law. We very much need an ally in that part of the world.”
Translating rhetoric into policy, Warren cosponsored the United States–Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014, an AIPAC-backed bill that solidified the United States and Israel’s “special relationship.” The legislation, passed at the peak of the Gaza War, provided emergency funding for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system while boosting US military aid by $225 million (on top of the already $3 billion in annual funding). The move put Warren at odds with progressive constituents, who pointed out that the funds sent to Israel were offset by deep cuts to a proposed program to aid thousands of child immigrants from Latin America. After the war, in November 2014, Warren made her first trip to Israel, where she addressed Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset, and where, in the words of then–US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, “she was impressed by the spirited nature of Israeli democracy.”
Warren has enjoyed cozy relations with AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) representatives in Boston for years. She has repeatedly appeared at local AIPAC events and counted the group’s members among her supporters and donors. Candy Glazer, a Western Massachusetts Democratic leader who has also served as an AIPAC executive committee member, once praised Warren for her “strong voting record on Israel.” That “strong voting record” includes signing an AIPAC-sponsored letter in 2016 urging President Obama to veto a “one-sided” UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements, repeated support for sending money and military aid to Israel, and cosponsorship of a Senate bill earlier this year that handed Israel a total of $38 billion over the next ten years. Other pro-Israel PACs have also showered her with donation
Poster Comment:
She was strident Zionist before running for Prez. She will never get elected so it is moot if she would become a Zionist again after being elected President.