Eric Swalwell

I mean, we were thrust into this conflict in the sense that we followed Israel's lead.

But we're not in a declared state of war.

We are in a conflict right now, not of our own making, but the idea that we're going to censor people online.

I always tell people who push back on me, I say, look, find where I'm wrong.

Find the evidence that refutes the claim.

I can back up what I'm saying.

at this point no it's it's true and um again you're right to point out rubio's comments on capitol hill right after the war began i mean he said i mean that's what we did um remember trump has said repeatedly over the last three weeks or i guess more than that now he's said repeatedly that you know if i didn't act there would be no israel

Which clearly, that's again, the Israeli line is that they are one heartbeat away from an Iranian nuclear holocaust.

And again, I can understand where the Israelis are coming from, but I don't think it's that dire yet.

And I think there was plenty of time for us to do something other than starting a catastrophic war that neither we nor the Israelis are now winning.

There was a thousand other things that we could have done and tried before going into war.

Not just negotiations.

We could have enhanced the Abraham Accords.

We could have brought the Israelis closer together with the Arab states and told them, we are not starting a war.

We're going to do a containment strategy like we did to the Soviet Union.

There are dozens and dozens of alternatives that would have been less costly and less damaging to the United States than what we're doing now.

And what you're highlighting here, Megan,

is the truth, and they don't like the truth, which is, yes, we did this because we were helping Israel, but ultimately, it's not helping Israel any more than it's helping us.

In fact, Israel is now seeing severe economic damage, they're seeing severe political fallout.

The first day of the courts in Israel resuming normal functions was a week ago, or last week, and the first thing they did was continue the indictment and investigation into Netanyahu for corruption charges.