Pelosi: Netanyahu only cares about his own survival

Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi says Benjamin Netanyahu is only concerned with his own political survival, in comments published by one-time Barack Obama aide David Axelrod, who hosted her for a live podcast interview this week at Arizona State University.

“I’ve said this to Netanyahu over the years, ‘I don’t know whether you don’t know how to make peace, you don’t want to make peace, or you’re afraid of peace. But you could doing so much more instead of just throwing red meat to [the] crowd, which is he what he did,” the California congresswoman says.

She cites Netanyahu’s family background, but adds “No, I think he’s interested in one thing, his own survival, and that’s it.”

Did a live #AxeFiles event w/⁦@SpeakerPelosi⁩ at @ASU yesterday, at which she absolutely unloaded on
⁦⁦@netanyahu⁩. pic.twitter.com/1mdS0G5jka

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) April 9, 2024

The reference to Netanyahu’s family background may be a nod to his father, Benzion Netanyahu, a scholar of the Spanish Inquisition, whose hawkish views and expertise on antisemitic genocide have been said to have infused the prime minister with a hardline zeal and perception of the Jewish people’s survival constantly at stake.