HomerianSymphony , 6 hours ago (edited 5 hours ago)

My impressions: The tone is good. She opens by saying she has had a “frank” conversation with Netanyahu, and she’s says it in a stern voice, which makes it sound like she intends to be tough with him.

But as for the substance of the speech… well, it sounds like she grasps the horrors of what Israel is doing in Gaza. But she also doesn’t say that the US is going to do anything about it.

Doesn’t say that she’s willing to put pressure on Netanyahu or Israel. Certainly doesn’t say that they’ll stop shipping weapons. (Actually, the opposite. She says she’ll continue to ensure that Israel can defend itself from Hamas, which sounds like it means weapons.)

She wants the ceasefire to be agreed to, but doesn’t identify Israel as the holdout. Doesn’t say that the US will do anything more than hold conversations and not look away. It all sounds like more of the same of what we’ve had for fifty-seven years.

I realize that she is currently just the VP in Biden’s administration, and probably can’t change the administration’s policies. So maybe we can’t expect anything more than a change of tone at this point.

But if Israel were any other country, there would be talk of sanctions and the need for “regime change”.