Jen Psaki on Israel: Clearly the Strategy that the U.S. Is Implementing at This Point Is Not Working

SCARBOROUGH: “Well, and Jen, it’s very easy to, for people to say the president should do A, the president should do B, C. There is also the very real possibility inside the White House they understand this. If the president turns on Netanyahu aggressively, if the president says we’re going to stop sending weapons that Netanyahu actually uses that they gain more power inside of Israel, saying, ‘See, we have been abandoned in even by the United States. We have to fight on.’”
PSAKI: “That — that’s right, Joe. And I think that’s important too. Look, clearly the strategy that the United States is implementing at this point is not working to change the behavior of Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is not working to end the war. So obviously, something has to change. And I think it’s pretty clear, they’re discussing that I think, in the White House, and I hope in the White House, in this situation, or at this point in time, the question is what that will be. And there’s a number of allies of President Biden’s in the Senate, Democratic senators and others who have been pretty outspoken about the need for conditioning aid, at least as a consideration. That’s obviously something that is being considered, should be considered. The question is, will that change the behavior and what additional leverage needs to be put on Prime Minister Netanyahu at this point in time to change the trajectory? But you’re right, there’s a calculation if you’re discussing this, if you’re the president, if you’re the national security team about what would prompt Prime Minister Netanyahu to be more aggressive, what would prompt him to be less aggressive? Obviously, nothing has worked to date, but it’s — it’s not as easy as it sounds to make that determination.”