A year after the Oct. 7 attacks, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told Jewish Insider that ending the growing conflict in the Middle East rests with focusing on its source: Iran and the Islamic regime’s commitment to eliminating Israel and the Jewish people. 

Speaking to JI last week, a day after Iran’s second ballistic missile attack on Israel, Wasserman Schultz said that the U.S., Israel and American allies in the Arab world and globally “need to continue to come together to focus on ensuring that the terrorist commitment — Iran as the mastermind, as the ringleader of an obsession with destroying Israel and killing Jews around the world — that has to be neutered. That goal has to be undermined and neutralized.”

Once that Iranian ambition is undermined, she continued, “the idea of two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace, is something that absolutely needs to be a part of that conclusion.”

Wasserman Schultz added that Israel is facing “essentially [a] seven-front war” and the U.S. must continue to “back up Israel” in that conflict.

Wasserman Schultz said that Iran needs to face “severe consequences” for the attack that it launched on Israel last week, describing Iran as “the driver of the pain and division and terrorism in the Middle East and, really, most places it occurs in the world.” 

Pressed on whether that should include military action, Wasserman Schultz said, “I expect that there will be and there needs to be a full range of consequences. But obviously I’ll leave that to the president and vice president.” 

She said that she expects the U.S. will assist or participate in Israel’s military response, also highlighting the role that the U.S. has played in intercepting Iran’s attacks on Israel. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program or oil production.

“We have said consistently that we will be prepared to assist Israel in every way possible to make sure that her and U.S. national security interests are protected and preserved,” she continued. “Again, the method in which that occurs is the purview of the president.”

A year after the Oct. 7 attacks, Wasserman Schultz emphasized the continued need to focus on returning the remaining hostages to their families, as well as preventing a similar attack from being repeated.

“You only have to step foot in Israel, as I have three times, both on the weekend of Oct. 7, and twice afterwards, to see how much it’s impacted Jews around the world but also to see the resolve and strength in the faces of each and every Israeli,” she said.

She expressed confidence that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would ensure that Israel has the ability to end the terrorist threats on its border, bring the hostages home and bring to justice those responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, as well as, “at the appropriate time” rebuild Gaza under a non-hostile government.

Addressing efforts to free the hostages, Wasserman Schultz said that Hamas has “showed no interest in working towards a deal” to free the hostages. She urged the administration to  continue to provide military support to Israel as well as “engag[ing] in all diplomatic means” to try to bring the hostages home, including pressuring Arab allies to stand by Israel and use their political capital to secure a deal.

“That’s essential that that effort continue, because the Arab world has a responsibility to help bring this conflict to an end as well,” she said.

Wasserman Schultz was in the Middle East when the Oct. 7 attacks happened last year, for discussions with Saudi and other leaders originally geared toward expanding the Abraham Accords. 

She said that she and other members of the House Abraham Accords Caucus recently met with Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and said Saudi leaders continue to say they are “committed to normalization.”

“But obviously the challenges that exist now are quite different than what they were” before the war, she added. “Obviously there are requirements that would be necessary for both Israel and Saudi Arabia in order to move forward on that. And obviously those requirements are connected to the conflict that exists now.”

Speaking to concerns over rising antisemitism in the United States since Oct. 7, Wasserman Schultz argued that reelecting former President Donald Trump would be a dangerous accelerant to anti-Jewish hate domestically, highlighting his recent comments denigrating Jewish voters.

“He would make things worse,” she said. “He has intentionally tried to make things worse and he has no regard for the Jewish community or our well-being.”

To combat antisemitism that has emerged on the left, particularly on college campuses, she called for further resources for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, as well as for dialogue and education that brings people together.

Wasserman Schultz accused Republican colleagues of being unserious about and even seeking to “fan the flames” of college protests because they have rejected additional funding for the Office of Civil Rights. She said that legislation like the recent House-passed bill to bring the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution would help to promote education and dialogue.

“We have to make every effort to invest in education and understanding and coming together so that you can reduce antisemitism because that’s what will generationally contribute to helping there to be more understanding and unity,” she said.