Many Democratic senators — progressives and moderates alike — are declaring support for the audacious operation against Hezbollah that detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members in Lebanon, amid criticism from left-wing lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) who harshly criticized Israel for the operation.

A number of Democratic senators who have criticized Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza nonetheless offered praise for the stunning, targeted attacks against Hezbollah. Israel has not claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks in Lebanon.

“For those of us who care about regional stability we have to manage the risk of escalation, but for those of us who have been critical of the conduct of the war in terms of [there being] too high of a tolerance for civilian casualties, we should be a little cautious to criticize an operation this precise,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), a progressive Democrat who has criticized Israel’s prosecution of its war against Hamas, told Jewish Insider on Thursday. 

“This attack was definitely aimed precisely at Hezbollah and seems to have been highly successful,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “It seems to have been extremely strategic.”

Still, he noted that he is “hoping that a wider conflict can be avoided.”

“I fully support weaponizing the kinds of tools of terror that Hezbollah uses and turning it on them,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said, calling the attack “very targeted” and the kind of operation “that minimizes any kind of collateral damage and death.”

“Who’s using beepers and those kinds of things, unless they were using it for that kind of reason?” he asked.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) told JI that she believes “the loss of innocent lives is tragic, and you probably heard the comments from human rights activists saying that that’s not in compliance with international law. Sadly, Hezbollah has not acted in compliance with international law.” 

“Their attacks against Israel, their efforts to tie up the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government from getting any kind of forward progress on the issues that are facing the Lebanese people has just been horrific, so this may put them off balance in a way that hopefully will make them think about being able to reach some agreement to address what have been chronic issues with Lebanon,” Shaheen said. 

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a swing-state moderate, told JI that while the jury was still out on if the attack was a success, he believed that it was a “creative way to go after a terrorist organization.”

“Israel has a right to defend itself, and they’ve been attacked by Hezbollah, who by the way is supported by the Iranians, and they have a right to defend themselves,” Kelly said. “I haven’t seen anything quite like this before, but I suspect there will be a response, and then the Israelis will have to respond.”

The Arizona senator argued that the attack will “not necessarily” prompt an escalation in the region. “This could be something that disincentivizes Hezbollah from their current course. That’s a possibility too, but we will have to see what happens over the next weeks and months,” he said.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) noted to JI when asked about the attack: “It’s a dangerous part of the world. We stand by our ally, Israel, in our focus on the broader region, and of course, we’re hoping to get to peace.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a close ally of President Joe Biden, told JI in a statement, “The explosions in Lebanon this week are a clear reminder of the stakes of expanded fighting in the Middle East.” 

“A full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah where both sides can strike each other through completely unexpected ways could lead to catastrophic losses on both sides and further risk regional stability. Considering how high tensions are, it is more imperative than ever that all sides take steps to de-escalate tensions and resume negotiations that will lead to regional peace,” his statement read. 

The harshest criticism came from left-wing lawmakers decrying the explosions as imprecise because there were civilians harmed in the attack.

Ocasio-Cortez drew criticism from pro-Israel individuals for tweeting Wednesday afternoon: “Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon detonated thousands of handheld devices across of a slew of public spaces, seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians. This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict.”

“Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any US assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology,” she wrote. 

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), who supports cutting off offensive military aid to Israel, claimed that the collateral damage was too high despite the fact that most of those killed or injured in the operation were affiliated with Hezbollah.  

“We don’t know all the people who were killed but we know [it was] a lot of innocent people including children, so that’s not all that precise,” he told JI. “What we do know is that the danger of escalation, this is a regional conflict dragging the United States in and is increasing constantly. So the question for us is, are we going to try to temper what Israel is doing because it exposes our country to the potential of getting dragged into a Mideast conflict.”