民主党参议员克里斯·范·霍伦周日抨击以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡，指责范·霍伦称内塔尼亚胡拒绝默认美国总统乔·拜登的提议要求在加沙采取更多人道主义行动在与哈马斯的战争中。
马里兰州议员、参议院外交关系委员会成员范·霍伦(Van Hollen)在美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)“本周”节目中也表示，拜登“需要用实际行动来支持他的‘没有借口’的语言。”
“我们的情况是，内塔尼亚胡继续向美国总统伸出手指，我们正在发送更多的炸弹，”范·霍伦告诉《本周》的联合主播玛莎·拉达茨。“而这没有意义。”
出于对加沙平民状况和以色列可能入侵加沙最南端城市拉法的担忧，这位参议员一直强烈支持重新考虑向以色列运送进攻性武器。据信，有100多万巴勒斯坦人在拉法避难。
范·霍伦周日表示:“玛莎，我的观点是，在内塔尼亚胡政府允许更多援助进入加沙、帮助真正快要饿死的人之前，我们不应该运送更多炸弹。”
鉴于总体死亡人数居高不下，拜登和其他美国官员对内塔尼亚胡以及以色列军方在加沙打击哈马斯的方式越来越感到失望。
据哈马斯运营的卫生部称，自哈马斯10月7日的恐怖袭击引发战争以来，加沙已有32，000多人丧生。
不过，尽管奥巴马总统和他的高级官员对陷入交火中的巴勒斯坦人直言不讳，并警告说，如果以色列人在没有平民计划的情况下进入拉法，可能会有“后果”，但白宫迄今为止一直拒绝为军事援助设定条件或采取其他公开措施向内塔尼亚胡施压。
鉴于内塔尼亚胡决心进入拉法，并用总理的话说，彻底摧毁哈马斯的战斗力，拉达茨周日向范·霍伦施压，询问他希望政府采取哪些额外措施。
范·霍伦说，需要有一条“双向道，而不是用美国纳税人的钱开出的单向空白支票。”
“我认为我们需要更好地利用我们的优势。我们有不同的筹码，其中之一是输送更多的进攻性武器。因此，拜登总统需要像内塔尼亚胡提出要求那样认真确保更多的人道主义援助进入加沙。
政府拒绝向国会提交新的武器申请，而是选择发送已经批准的包裹，范·霍伦称之为对国会山批评者的“终结”。
虽然范·霍伦说他支持以色列正在进行的针对哈马斯的行动，但他特别指出，以色列“有责任自卫”，“你可以在平民伤亡较少的情况下实施这一行动，当然你也可以防止我们正在目睹的这场人道主义灾难的恐怖。”
“上个月，运送到加沙北部的人道主义援助物资有三分之一受阻。你可以打开北部的埃雷兹过境点，立即获得援助。我的意思是，孩子们会饿死，”范·霍伦说。
然而，当拉达茨问及他是否认为内塔尼亚胡是战犯时，他回避了这一问题。此前，他点名批评了总理联盟中的两名强硬派成员，称他们采取了阻止援助进入加沙的措施。
“我们将不得不决定整个以色列政府的意图是什么...最终，这将不得不在未来决定。
内塔尼亚胡的高级顾问Ophir Falk本月早些时候对ABC新闻坚持说，以色列已经为战争中的平民做了足够多的事情，并表示自冲突开始以来，“可能有数万辆”援助卡车进入加沙。
“没有其他国家会这样做，”法尔克说。
然而，他说，以色列也必须采取措施“核实它没有被哈马斯窃取。”
范·霍伦在“本周”节目中也谈到了上周巴尔的摩的弗朗西斯·斯科特·基大桥部分坍塌的事故。他说，政府致力于帮助该市恢复，包括帮助据信已经遇难的六名工人的家属，他们都已移民到美国。
“这是移民做出贡献和牺牲的一个明显例子，”他说。
“现在的另一个优先事项是开放海峡，因为这是巴尔的摩的一个繁荣港口。我们有超过15，000人直接为港口工作。成千上万的其他人——他们的生计依赖于港口。因此，打开这个渠道是当务之急。
“陆军工兵部队将承担清理海峡的所有费用...联邦政府将支付90%的(重建)费用，参议员【本】卡丹和我正计划引入立法来支付其余10%的费用。”
Netanyahu 'continues to essentially give the finger' to Biden over Gaza, Sen. Van Hollen says
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Sunday tore into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what Van Hollen said was Netanyahu's refusal to acquiesce to President Joe Biden'srequests for more humanitarian action in Gazaamid the war with Hamas.
Appearing on ABC News' "This Week," Van Hollen, a Maryland lawmaker and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said Biden "needs to back up his 'no excuses' language with real action."
"We have a situation where Netanyahu continues to essentially give the finger to the president of the United States, and we're sending more bombs," Van Hollen told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "And that doesn't make sense."
The senator has been a vocal proponent of reconsidering sending offensive weapons to Israel out of concern for the situation for civilians in Gaza and Israel's expected invasion of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, where more than 1 million Palestinians are thought to be taking refuge.
"My view, Martha, is until the Netanyahu government allows more assistance into Gaza, to help people who are literally starving to death, we should not be sending more bombs," Van Hollen said on Sunday.
Biden and other U.S. officials have voiced increasing frustration with Netanyahu and the way the Israeli military is prosecuting its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, given the high death toll overall.
Since Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack sparked the war, more than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.
Still, though the president and his top officials have spoken out about the Palestinians caught in the crossfire and warned that there could be "consequences" if the Israelis move into Rafah without a plan for civilians, the White House so far has declined to condition military aid or take other overt steps to pressure Netanyahu.
Raddatz on Sunday pressed Van Hollen on what additional steps he'd like to see from the administration, given Netanyahu's resolve to go into Rafah and, in the prime minister's words, finish dismantling Hamas' fighting capabilities.
Van Hollen said there needs to be a "two-way street, not a one-way blank check with American taxpayer dollars."
"I think we need to better use our leverage. We have different parts of leverage and one of them is sending more offensive weapons. So, President Biden needs to be as serious about ensuring more humanitarian assistance gets into Gaza as Netanyahu has been in making his demands," he said.
The administration has declined to submit new requests for weapons to Congress -- opting instead to send packages that were already approved, which Van Hollen dubbed an "end run" around critics on Capitol Hill.
Though Van Hollen said he supports Israel's ongoing operations against Hamas, specifically -- noting the country "has a duty to defend itself" -- "you could conduct this with fewer civilian casualties and certainly you could prevent the horror of this humanitarian catastrophe that we're watching unfold."
"One-third of the shipments of the humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza have been blocked in the last month. You could open Erez Crossing in the north and get assistance in right now. I mean, kids starve to death," Van Hollen said.
He dodged, however, when pressed by Raddatz over whether he considers Netanyahu a war criminal after he singled out two hard-line members of the prime minister's coalition for what he said were steps to block aid into Gaza.
"We're going to have to make a decision as to what the intent of the full Israel government is ... ultimately, that will have to be decided down the road," he said.
A top Netanyahu adviser, Ophir Falk, insisted to ABC News earlier this month that Israel is doing enough for civilians in the war, saying that "maybe tens of thousands" of aid trucks have gone into Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
"No other country would do that," Falk said.
However, he said, Israel must also take steps to "verify it's not being stolen by Hamas."
Van Hollen on "This Week" separately also addressed the partial collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge last week. He said the government is dedicated to helping the city recover -- including aiding the families of six workers who are believed to have been killed, all of whom had migrated to the U.S.
"It's a clear example about the contributions and the sacrifices that immigrants make," he said.
"The other priority right now is to open the channel because this is a thriving port of Baltimore. We have over 15,000 people working directly for the port. Thousands of others -- their livelihood depends on the port. So, opening that channel is the priority," Van Hollen said.
"The Army Corps of Engineers will cover all the cost of clearing the channel ... The federal government will pay 90% of the [rebuilding] costs and Sen. [Ben] Cardin and I are planning to introduce legislation to cover the other 10."
