Senator Van Hollen: Netanyahu ‘outsmarted' Trump on Iran
As the president mulls further involvement in Israel's attack on Iran, Senator Van Hollen tells host Steve Clemons that 'This notion that you can just drop a few big bombs and be done with it misunderstands history, because there is a real risk that the United States will get dragged deeper and deeper into this war.'
Van Hollen also criticised the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as 'death traps' for Palestinians.
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Al Jazeera
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Al Jazeera
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Lawmakers in Europe and North America are openly questioning arms shipments, trade deals, and diplomatic cover, not because of the briefings they have on Israeli war crimes but because their inboxes are flooded with screenshots of scattered body parts and starving children. The battlefield has expanded into parliaments, campuses, city councils, and editorial rooms. This is the backlash of a war Israel cannot win with brute force. To regain control of the narrative, Israeli officials have pressured social media platforms to curb content they dislike. Yet even Israel's most sophisticated public diplomacy efforts are struggling to keep pace with the virality of raw documentation. Behind closed doors, the Israeli military is no longer merely worried about public relations; it is concerned about prosecution. 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Images of conflict do not just convey information; they can also redefine our perceptions and influence our political positions. The powerful 'Napalm Girl' photo that captured the aftermath of an attack by the US-allied South Vietnamese army on civilians during the Vietnam War had a profound impact on American society. It helped create a significant shift in public opinion regarding the war, accelerating the decision of the US government to end it. Today, in Gaza, the stream of powerful images does not stop. Despite Israel's best efforts, the global opinion is overwhelmingly against its genocidal war. Smartphones have completely changed the nature of conflict by putting a camera in the hands of every witness. In this new era, Israel struggles to defeat the relentless, unfiltered visual record of its crimes that calls for justice. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
