Ben Rhodes

That's about as likely as the objective of destroying Hamas in Gaza was.

What they have done is they've occupied southern Lebanon, and I don't think they're going to leave anytime soon.

So I think what you have is like a very tenuous cold peace if this actually becomes a lasting ceasefire where Israel is probably going to violate the terms in Lebanon periodically if they feel like they need to take a shot.

And then the big question is, will they show restraint or will they occasionally take shots at Iran?

Let's take a full step back here post-October 7th, Tim, and it's like –

was this worth it you know they have decimated a lot of hamas but hamas is still there hamas still has a tunnel network they have decimated a lot of hezbollah but hezbollah is still there and they have you know set back iranian capabilities but the regime is still there that proxy network that access of resistance is weaker significantly so but was it worth

What has been done to Israel's position in this country and around the world?

Was it worth the blowback?

Because I can guess that people in Gaza and Lebanon and Iran are not going to forget what happened and are going to be seeking revenge for a very long time.

Was this all worth it?

I would argue it wasn't.

Yeah.

I mean, you have 40 Democratic senators voting to cut off all arms sales to Israel the other day.

Sales, not just assistance, not just financing.

And that includes, importantly, every single Democratic senator who's considering running for president.

Like, I'm not sure Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin, I don't know.

Yeah, sure.

point is that the incentive structure is clear in the Democratic Party, and it's only moving in one direction.

There's not some world in which people go back to thinking, no, no, let's start giving them all this military assistance.

And the same thing is happening, obviously, on the right.