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In Jerusalem

Sen. Blumenthal warns Israel against strike on Iranian nuclear facilities

Graham: Israel, Saudi have until Christmas to normalize in conjunction with post-war plan for Gaza, or ‘things get worse’

Lahav Harkov

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speak during a press conference in Jerusalem on Oct, 7, 2024.

Israel should not strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s recent ballistic missile attack, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said in a press conference with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in Jerusalem on Tuesday, warning of the chances for a wider regional war in the event of such a strike.

Asked if the U.S. would support or join a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Blumenthal said that “widening the escalation of the ongoing war to include Iran at that time may not be in Israel’s interest or that of the U.S.”

”A nuclear-armed Iran is a threat not just to the U.S. but to the world order,” he added. “It has been the constant policy of the U.S. to try to avoid a nuclear armed Iran … but attacking a nuclear facility right now is perhaps not the wisest course to take.” 

Graham, who was on his seventh visit to Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, said he would support Israel if it chose to “take the [nuclear] option off the table.” 

“I don’t know what targets Israel will pick, but I know it will respond,” he said. “Missile defense worked very well, but eventually, one will get through and kill Israelis. It’s just a matter of time, and that would trigger a massive response.”

Graham called a nuclear Iran “the biggest threat to the world,” because unlike other U.S. adversaries that have nuclear weapons, “the ayatollah would use a nuclear weapon against the State of Israel as part of his religious agenda. He is a religious Nazi.”

Blumenthal also said that it is Iran’s “sole mission to annihilate Israel and murder the Jewish people … The fight against Iran is our fight as well, so our alliance with Israel should be strong.”

Graham paid tribute to Israel’s “stunning” achievements on the battlefield, saying they “will make peace more likely, not less.”

”The best way to make peace in this region is to cripple and weaken Iran. They are the source of most of the conflict,” Graham said.

Blumenthal said that “this war is not against the Palestinians, it is not against the Lebanese, it is against the proxies of Iran that want to annihilate Israel, and Iran that has said it wants to annihilate the US as well. Americans should understand that Israel is an ally in a dangerous neighborhood and a perilous world.”

The senator said the U.S. should try to “influence” Israel to reduce civilian casualties and provide more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“The people of America should stand with Israel’s right to defend itself as we stand in this critical, pivotal period in history,” he added.

Graham and Blumenthal both said they will seek a supplemental measure for additional military aid to Israel, including replenishing Patriot missile defense interceptors.

Graham said Americans should support military aid for their own security: “Both of us will go down and support a supplemental … for the [hurricane] disaster at home, but the Twin Towers came down not because of a hurricane, it was because of radical Islamists … Israel’s fight is making that less likely to happen again at home.”

Blumenthal emphasized that the aid should be for “self-defense arms to avoid a wider war, because if missiles become destructive to Israel’s cities, it may lead to war.” 

Graham presented a plan to end the war in Gaza that would involve Israeli-Saudi normalization, and cooperation with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on post-war Gaza — but said it has to be completed by Christmas.

”What does winning look like?” Graham asked. “That Israelis can live in their homes in the north and the south without fear. There will be no refugees in your own land … Whatever the day-after plan becomes, there will be security buffers … so that this can never happen again.” 

Winning would also include, according to Graham, “having the Arabs involved with the Palestinian file unlike any other time in the past … The idea of Israel withdrawing and not having someone come behind is insane … Who in the region has the ability to fix the problem? [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.A.E. President Mohammed bin Zayed] with other regional partners in conjunction with the U.S.”

In order to do that, he said, Israeli, Saudi and Emirati leaders have to come up with a solution involving a reformed Palestinian Authority, the reconstruction of Gaza, deradicalization, demilitarization and security guarantees for Israel.

“If by Christmas we don’t have normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, then Iran will have won a strategic victory,” he added. “Oct. 7 was launched to stop Saudi normalization … They want to stop reconciliation — I want them to fail.” 

The senator’s December 25 deadline is out of a concern that the next president will be unable to get enough votes in the Senate to approve the defense treaty element of a deal with Saudi Arabia.

Without such a deal, Graham said, “you will have decades of Israel half-in, half-out, military budgets will double … Hamas will come back in different areas.” 

Blumenthal noted that he has “heard consistently from leaders of Israel that full-scale permanent occupation of Lebanon or Gaza is a self-defeating quagmire. There has to be a strategy for Gaza [and] some kind of buffer for Lebanon.”

As to Saudi Arabian statements that a Palestinian state is a precondition for normalization with Israel, Graham said that “the two-state solution we talked about in the past died on Oct. 7. That is it. The Israeli public will not accept a Palestinian state as a result of this barbaric terrorist attack, because it’s rewarding terrorism.”

At the same time, the senator said, “I want friends in Israel to understand that MBS and MBZ are reliable partners who share the goal of stabilizing the Palestinian file. Can you reach an agreement between his need and desire for a dignified life for the Palestinians and Israel’s desire not to reward terrorism and make sure another Oct. 7 doesn’t emanate from Gaza or the West Bank? You won’t know until you talk.”

Graham said he was encouraged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “enthusiasm” for a normalization deal in the coming months.

“If this works I’ll come back for New Years and we’ll have a hell of a party at the King David hotel,” Graham quipped. “Let 5785 be the year when it all happened.”

Graham and Blumenthal arrived in Israel on Monday, the anniversary of the Hamas massacres in southern Israel, and met with Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and were scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The legislators also met with the family of murdered Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, among other hostages’ relatives.

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