Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about the importance of bipartisan support for Israel in Congress.
“People around the world need to understand how partisan Washington has gotten over the last 20 years. There's virtually no bipartisan issue left. When I came here, there were members of both parties who had both views on abortion. Now, they're 100% separate. When I came here, there were different issues on gun control, which is a big issue in the United States. Now, the parties are totally separate,” said Sherman.
“Israel cannot afford, since Israel has one major friend in the world, to have one half of one friend,” he stressed. “Israel cannot afford to have a situation where it has the support of one party, even though almost every other issue, whether it's global warming or whatever, has the support of one party. We need both parties to support Israel.”
“I think Israelis need to understand, they may root for one political party or the other party, that doesn't mean that party's going to win. They'll say, ‘oh, this party's better for Israel, so they're going to win.’ No. Half the time in the first 76-plus years of Israel's existence, Democrats have been in control. Half the time, Republicans are going to be in control. Guess what it's going to be for the next 75, 76 years? So you need support on both sides,” Sherman stated.
Wilson said, “Sadly, in the Democratic Party, there are people who are really against Israel, and it's just sad. But even there, a significant majority are still for Israel. I'm really grateful, among Republicans, it's 100%. Republicans support the existence of the state of Israel, support every effort to be made to provide for deterrence, for peace through strength. And then we already see with President Donald Trump, his success with the Abraham Accords. This can be achieved even further, and I believe it will. And we know that Donald Trump loves the people of Israel and wants to see the state of Israel succeed.”
“We know that with the relationship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with President Donald Trump, they will work together to indeed achieve, finally, all of the hostages being released. And it will be done very quickly, actually, because Donald Trump is not going to allow American citizens or Israeli citizens to be hostages of mass-murdering terrorists,” added Wilson.