Back from nearly a week in the volatile Middle East, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday said the planned deployment of 100 U.S. soldiers to Israel is strictly limited to operating an anti-missile system for the important long-time ally, as regional negotiators try to keep violence from growing and obtain a deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Speaking during a morning news conference in the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, Blumenthal said the visit he and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina paid to the region last week included important discussions with not only Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but other regional leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in attempt to pursue paths for peace.
“On the whole I am hopeful, but deeply concerned,” Blumenthal said. “The key is to avoid escalation at this moment.”
Blumenthal also warned that former president Donald Trump’s remarks on the campaign trail in which he said U.S. troops could be ordered against domestic protesters, would be the unconstitutional tactic of a dangerous autocracy.
“I am more deeply concerned than ever about the potential widening of this war, but I think there is real hope for peace,” Blumenthal said. “I think that Israel’s success on the battlefield, militarily, needs to be matched by successful diplomacy now to seek cessation of the fighting, return of the hostages, normalizing relations among neighbors in the Middle East with Israel, and of course humanitarian aid: healing and rebuilding.”
Blumenthal said he welcomes the decision by President Joe Biden to send crews to operate the Terminal High Altitude Defense shield system to defend against more ballistic missile attacks such as the Oct. 1 raids from Iran that Israeli officials have vowed to avenge. “Sending of this air defense system underscores the iron-clad American commitment to Israel’s defense and its commitment to safeguard American civilians there as well as Israel civilians in the face of the threat of continued missile attacks by Iran,” he said. “It is to defend Israel against any additional missile attacks, which reaped some of their targets during the last barrage. It is defensive only. It sends a signal that America will be there for Israel. It will have Israel’s back against attack by Iran.”
Meanwhile, he stressed the need for diplomacy to continue.
“The potential is there for normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, just as was done between Israel and U.A.E. in the Abraham Accords of 2020,” when the emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel as a sovereign country, he said, adding that he urged leaders that it should be used as a path “to cessation of fighting, return of the hostages, normalizing relations and increased humanitarian aid. In the meantime, my hope is that the numbers of civilian casualties will be reduced, as I emphasized to the prime ministers and that the return of the hostages be emphasized as a goal. The potential now for widening of the war is really so deeply concerning that I think that the sending of this air defense system ought to be viewed as a commitment to defense of Israel, to deter Iran from widening the war.”
Blumenthal said he was encouraged by Saudi officials, who voiced interest in joining the Abraham Accords, and “diplomacy toward peace” is the message he would convey to his congressional colleagues and the Biden administration as a result of the bipartisan trip, from which he returned on Friday. “We ought to make sure that Israel and other countries understand that our goal is peace and stability in the region.”
He stressed the need for reducing civilian casualties in Gaza, where more than 40,000 people have died in the Israeli military campaign after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel that resulted in about 1,500 dead. About 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. He is hopeful that peace for the region can be reached before the end of the year.
David Waren, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, who attended Blumenthat’s news conference, said Israel and Iran at one time had “very close diplomatic relations and perhaps there’s a opening to free the Iranian people from their autocratic, terroristic government. Iran also isn’t just targeting Israel. Iran is threatening Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies of the west and the U.S.,” Waren said.
Blumenthal said he believes Netanyahu “wants peace as much as anyone” and he is open to more negotiations, but has to continue military maneuvers against Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon, where fighters have mixed into the general populace. “They have to respond to the missile barrage from Iran,” he said. “They must in some way respond. We emphasized the importance of a measured response that will avoid escalation.”
With the Israeli Defense Forces now in Lebanon, there’s added cause for concern, Blumenthal said, adding: “Lebanon is a country with enormous potential if it’s freed from Hezbollah.”
“The target in Lebanon is Hezbollah; the target in Gaza is Hamas. It is not the people of Lebanon or the Palestinians in Gaza. It has to be the terrorist organizations that have committed to annihilate Israel,” he said.
Blumenthal also expressed concern about the possibility of the Middle East conflicts making the United States targets for lone terrorist, or wider networks of terrorist groups.
On the campaign trail over the weekend Donald Trump said he would send U.S. troops against protesters in this country. Asked for a reaction, Blumenthal said that using the military against civilians here would violate federal law. “The fact that his presidency might involve the use of American military against American citizens violates fundamental, bedrock legal principles and constitutional guarantees, but also portends a possible autocracy that is dangerous beyond words,” he said.
___
(c)2024 The Middletown Press, Conn.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
