John Fetterman called Netanyahu Israel’s best friend through Benjamin

U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) met with the president and prime minister of Israel during his first-ever visit to the country he staunchly supports.

Fetterman is one of Israel’s biggest supporters in Congress, pleasantly surprising conservatives which discredited him when he entered public opinion as a progressive. As a result, he faced resistance from progressives, but in recent years Fetterman has resisted the progressive label.

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Before this trip, the Pennsylvania senator, who is not Jewish, had never been to Israel.

“In these months of agonizing war, we have gone through gloomy times, and I can say that during this time, Israel has had no better friend than Senator John Fetterman,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech video sent to X on Wednesdayplatform formerly known as Twitter. Fetterman wore a white hoodie and a Nova Music Festival headband given to him by the victim’s family Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Standing next to Netanyahu, dressed in a suit and tie, he clasped his hands together. American and Israeli flags hung side by side behind the two men.

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“I want to thank you for your brave statements that show moral clarity and moral courage, and you just tell it like it is,” Netanyahu said in the video. “We always appreciate this friendship, but especially now.”

“We stand with Israel in this and I am very sorry for what happened to this nation,” Fetterman said.

By contrast, the senator’s passionate support for Israel has become a much larger part of his political personality as of October 7, its support for its Middle Eastern ally had not then begun. While campaigning for the 2022 Senate primary, he told the publication Jewish Insider to “bend over” in support of the alliance. Israel’s other political allies began to draw lines in the sand as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened, but Fetterman’s support remained unconditional.

” READ MORE: Public opinion about John Fetterman is divided. Here’s what our poll says about the outspoken Pa. senator

Fetterman also met President of Israel Isaac Herzog. Herzog said in a post on X on Tuesday that he appreciated Fetterman wearing a Nova armband at an outdoor music festival near the border with Gaza, where hundreds of people were killed on October 7, as well as his demands for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

“You are a beacon of moral clarity as we fight to defend the free world from true evil,” the post read.