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In an interview on Tuesday, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D) touted her supposed opposition to Israel’s humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza — but dodged questions on whether or not she would support withholding weapons from Israel, and deflected blame onto pro-Palestine protesters in the U.S. for Israel’s starvation campaign.
Speaking on online news show “Breaking Points,” Slotkin contradicted herself numerous times while speaking about Gaza, saying that she condemns the humanitarian catastrophe while still refusing to support withdrawing U.S. aid to Israel. When asked, she pointed to common pro-Israel talking points — and swept aside the hosts’ questions on her pro-Israel voting record.
While speaking on the issue of Palestinian rights in relation to Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign, Slotkin called Gaza an issue that only the “online world” cares about intensely. Then, to defend her own record, she pointed to a letter sent on Tuesday criticizing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“I literally put my name on a letter yesterday, or last night, that says a policy of starvation — people are starting to starve,” Slotkin said, in response to host Krystal Ball asking if she accepts that Israel is enforcing a starvation policy in Gaza.
The letter in question, signed by 40 members of the Senate, does not name Israel as the perpetrator of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, nor does it mention the systematic starvation of Palestinians that experts have said was meticulously designed by Israeli officials.
When Ball asked about withholding aid like weapons to Israel — a move legal experts have said would be in line with states’ obligations under international law — Slotkin demurred, saying that Democrats are powerless, and shifted the blame.
“I just think it’s interesting, right, that there was a ton of protests when Democrats were in charge,” Slotkin said, referring to pro-Palestine protests under President Joe Biden. “I think it’s fair to say, just to be honest, that back and forth, the number of protests that go on now versus before,” she continued, before being interrupted by host Saagar Enjeti, who pointed out that those protesters were “part of your political coalition.”
Slotkin then said that “the most important thing is a pressurized campaign to get aid in to people who are starving.” But she didn’t acknowledge that it is Israel that is responsible for blocking aid to Palestinians, and when asked about withholding aid, Slotkin said that she opposes cutting off supposed “defensive” weapons to Israel — trotting out an old, debunked pro-Israel talking point. Stopping “offensive” weapons, in the meantime, “would be a place to look,” she said.
In reality, Slotkin’s voting record and other actions show that she is opposed to withholding aid of any kind to Israel. Earlier this year, Slotkin was one of roughly 80 senators who voted against blocking tank rounds, mortar rounds, and JDAMs to Israel — a vote brought by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) a month into Israel’s total aid blockade in Gaza that would go on for three months in total.
Her name was also absent from a letter sent by over two dozen Senate Democrats last week, demanding an independent, U.S.-led investigation into Israeli settlers’ killing of an American, Sayfollah Musallet, in the occupied West Bank earlier this month.
Meanwhile, last year, Slotkin voted for a bill to send $26 billion in unconditional assistance to Israel; a bill to define any criticism of Israel as “antisemitism”; and even a bill that would ban the State Department from citing the death toll in Gaza — a toll that would reflect the effects of the humanitarian crisis she claims to oppose.
Later in the interview, Slotkin refused to say that Israel is committing a genocide or ethnic cleasing — despite earlier acknowledging that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for illegal “forced migration” of Palestinians out of Gaza, which she said she condemns.
The interview comes ahead of a Senate vote, expected on Wednesday, on resolutions introduced by Sanders to block arms sales to Israel in response to the recent spike in starvation deaths.
“The time is long overdue for Congress to use the leverage we have — tens of billions in arms and military aid — to demand that Israel end these atrocities,” Sanders said in a statement announcing the vote.
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