Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is calling on President Joe Biden to drastically change his Middle East foreign policy strategy amid the Israel–Hamas war, including recognizing a Palestinian state.
Khanna underscored his call in response to a question about a CBS poll capturing Biden’s loss of support among Democrats before November’s general election.
“This is a problem,” Khanna told CBS on Sunday. “But if he can turn it around, not just by calling for a ceasefire, if he becomes the first American president to convene Gulf allies, to convene Israel, to convene municipal leaders in Palestine and civic society and [say], ‘I’m going to get this done. I’m going to recognize a Palestinian state, I’m going to have a two-state solution, and I’m going to recognize that the security of Israel matters, that the end of occupation matters,’ he can become a hero.”
While acknowledging that the Israel-Hamas war could affect Biden’s “turnout and base,” Khanna encouraged Biden “to forget electoral politics” and “do this for people in the Middle East,” contending it would be “a capstone to his legacy.” The CBS poll found that double the number of Democratic respondents described Biden’s presidency as “fair or poor,” compared to those describing Trump’s in the same manner.
“The president can get this done,” Khanna said. “The disagreement is Hamas wants a four-and-a-half month wait, [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu doesn’t want to have that long a ceasefire. Have the president in there, get it done, become a peacemaker. Recognize a Palestinian state, a two-state solution. And I think he could win back young people.”
More than 101,000 Michigan Democrats marked themselves as “uncommitted” instead of voting for Biden last week during that battleground state’s primary, with similar campaigns being organized in the Super Tuesday states of California and Minnesota for next week, in addition to Wisconsin for April 2.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked about Biden recognizing a Palestinian state in January after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron suggested the United Kingdom could be willing to do so.
“We’ve been very clear: We want to see a Palestinian state,” Kirby said. “The president still believes very strongly in the promise of a two-state solution. And there’s a lot of work that has to be done to make that a reality.”
“We’ve been working on this since almost the very beginning of the administration,” he added. “It’s one of the reasons why, I mean, prior to Oct. 7, we were working so hard on a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, because we believe that it was — baked into that would have been something for the Palestinians. And so, we still think there is an opportunity here, and we’re going to keep pursuing it. We think that that could be a significant milestone towards getting you closer to a two-state solution.”
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Meanwhile, Khanna on Sunday implored Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel, while the U.S. is also sending aid to Gaza, asserting the policy of “bear hugging” Netanyahu “has not worked.”
“Everyone agrees Hamas is a terrorist organization,” he said. “What they did on Oct. 7 is brutal. It should be condemned unequivocally. But the point is, now, it’s time to get a permanent ceasefire and release of the hostages, and the president can do it; with one call, he can do it.”
