Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the U.S. should take a “very tough position” if Israeli voters reelect the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s upcoming elections, but said a new Israeli government could provide opportunities for more constructive progress.

“If the Israelis want to vote for that again, then I think the United States has to take a very tough position,” Clinton said during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” “I think we could work with a new government.”

She argued that it “really does make a difference” who leads the Israeli government and who is in the coalition, highlighting the issue of settler violence in the West Bank.

“There should be no impunity for that kind of violence. It is not just about the death and destruction of the Palestinians, their property, and all the rest of it,” Clinton said. “Any time you let people have that level of violence in a society that you don’t stop, that creeps into the whole society. So it’s unfair, bad and wrong for the Palestinians, and it’s also very dangerous to Israel.”

The former secretary of state highlighted a report this week in Haaretz that alleged that Netanyahu had been warned that Hamas was planning an attack, and said that Netanyahu “either … didn’t believe it or he — it’s horrible to say — he wanted to see what they could plan so that he could then come down hard and it would enhance his position.” Netanyahu has vehemently denied the reporting. 

She called the result a failure of “imagination,” “leadership” and to protect the Israeli people.

Clinton emphasized, “I love Israel and I hate Netanyahu’s government and his policies,” arguing that the current state of affairs is bad for both Israel and the United States.

She said that securing peace would require “tough love” from Washington, “not rejection and not total agreement.”

Clinton also emphasized efforts by her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to broker agreements between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which were consistently rejected by the Palestinians.

“We did a lot over many years to try to resolve this very difficult situation,” Clinton said, pointing to her husband’s efforts to broker a two-state solution which were rejected by Yasser Arafat, the late chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and her own work to secure a settlement freeze during her time in office which was met largely with silence from the Palestinians.

“They could not figure out how to take advantage of this opportunity, like they couldn’t figure out how to take advantage of a state that would have been in existence now for 25 years,” she continued.