If Netanyahu Is Re-elected, US Should Take a Tougher Stance on Israel: Hillary Clinton

Washington,
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that if the Israeli public re-elects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the United States should adopt a much tougher stance toward Israel. She criticized Netanyahu’s leadership and called for strong action against Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.
Speaking to broadcaster MS Now on Thursday, referencing Israel’s general election scheduled for October 27, Clinton said: “If Israelis want to vote back in this same government, I think the U.S. is going to have to take a very tough stance.”
Citing media reports, she said that before October 7, 2023, the United Arab Emirates had warned Netanyahu about Hamas’s planned attack. According to Clinton, Netanyahu either didn’t believe the warning or considered how he could use the situation to his political advantage to take “tough action” that would bolster his political standing. “This was a failure of leadership. It was a failure to protect the Israeli people,” she said, adding: “I’ve said many times, I love Israel and I hate the Netanyahu government and its policies.”
Referring to Trump, her 2016 presidential rival who went on to win that election, Clinton said: “I love America and I hate the Trump administration and its policies.”
Clinton said it could genuinely make a difference if Netanyahu is no longer prime minister. “I would hope that a new prime minister would crack down on settler violence in the West Bank. No one should have impunity for that kind of violence,” she said. She warned that allowing this level of violence in a society is “unjust and wrong” for Palestinians and also “extremely dangerous” for Israel itself: “Whenever you let people in a society engage in this level of violence and don’t stop it, it starts to permeate the whole society.”
Clinton’s remarks come amid escalating attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since the genocide in Gaza began in October 2023. Palestinian officials have documented killings, arrests, home demolitions, attacks on mosques and vehicles, destruction of farmland, denial of farmers’ access to their land, and forced displacements. Palestinians say these Israeli military actions and settler violence are paving the way for the formal annexation of the West Bank into Israel, undermining prospects for a Palestinian state under UN resolutions.