Murphy: I Think It’s Time for the President to Use All the Leverage that He Has to Get a Long-Term Cease-Fire

KARL: “Okay, I want to turn to what we saw in Michigan, where over 100,000 Democrats went to the polls and voted non-committed, obviously a protest vote to the president’s handling of the situation in Gaza. How concerned, as a political matter, should Democrats be?”
MURPHY: “I don’t think we should be concerned about this as a political matter because this is such a critical issue relative to America’s national security and the security of the Middle East. I would hope that the president doesn’t make decisions about what to do in Gaza or the Middle East based upon how the votes line up. Listen, I think it is time for the president to use all the leverage that he has to get a long-term ceasefire. I think if that ceasefire doesn’t come, it’s in Israel’s interest for them to pause military activity to solve the humanitarian crisis. But to the extent the president is using additional leverage on Israel, he should do that for national security reasons, not for political reasons. These issues are too important to be dictated by the polls.”
KARL: “Is he not doing enough to pressure Israel on this?”
MURPHY: “No, I think you see him stepping up and using more and more pressure. But I think this is a critical moment where social order is unraveling inside Gaza. And I have both publicly and privately counseled the president to use whatever leverage he has to try to get this long-term ceasefire, that it has to happen tomorrow.”