Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman knocked the left wing of his party that’s turned against Israel – and underscored the stakes of the Jewish state’s “once in a generation opportunity” to take on Iran.
“There’s no war crimes. This just was an existential war. You can never rebuild Gaza — would you have to rebuild Gaza — if Hamas is allowed to be in force?” Fetterman (D-Pa.) told “Real Time With Bill Maher” on Friday.
“I think that’s really the truth. And our party, the Democratic Party, has lost that argument, and they’ve taken side with the regime that doesn’t have the kind of values and live the kind of ways that we want here in our country.”
The Keystone State senator has previously groused that the pro-Israel faction of the Democratic Party has “lost the argument” in elements of his party.
On late Thursday, US time, Israel fired off pre-emptive strikes on Iran, taking out some of the theocratic regime’s top scientists, military brass, nuclear facilities and rocket capabilities.
Iran is still widely believed to have retained critical nuclear infrastructure, such as its infamous Fordo site, which is buried deep underground. The regime has also since fired back at Israel, shooting ballistic missiles into the heart of Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
Israel accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons — something Iran has denied. The Trump administration had been negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, with another set of talks expected to take place Sunday, before getting canceled due to the attacks.
“We really have to fully support them taking out Iran at this point. We can’t ever allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,” the Keystone State senator told Bill Maher.
“After Israel was able to destroy the proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas as well too. They have a really, once-in-a-generation opportunity to take the nuclear facilities out.”
Israel’s preemptive attacks against Iran come against the backdrop of the regime’s proxy forces in the region taking a massive hit. Israel had launched an explosive pager attack against scores of Hezbollah operatives last year, dramatically weakening the Lebanese terror group.
Its operations in the Gaza Strip have dramatically eroded Hamas’ capabilities. Then, late last year, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces overthrew the Assad regime.
Fetterman ripped into progressive critics of Israel for making incendiary claims about the Jewish state’s military campaign in the region.
“I don’t believe Israel has occurred [sic] any kind of war crimes. And then I also think we’ve seen a lot of language has been cheapened as well, too. There was never a genocide,” Fetterman said. “People are putting Israel to a double standard now.”
Maher, who has a knack for punching at the left despite his liberal politics, has been a fan of Fetterman and even floated him for president.
Fetterman had been a darling of the progressive movement in 2022 when he dispatched Dr. Mehmet Oz during their battle to succeed former Sen. Pat Toomey. He was the only Democrat to flip a Senate seat blue that cycle and made a name for himself with a snappy online campaign while recovering from a stroke.
Since then, the progressive flank of his party has soured on him over his support for Israel and, to a lesser extent, his push for bolstered border security.
“Parts of my party just want to turn me into a Colonel Kurtz,” Fetterman quipped. “That’s what happened after Israel and the border, and some of the times I might have to disagree with my party.”
Still, Fetterman underscored that he is still a Democrat and disagrees with many of President Trump’s top agenda items, such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“I’m never going to be a part of the 40 trillion club, and now that’s going to push our debt up to $40 trillion, I mean, it’s incredibly dangerous,” Fetterman said, also noting his staunch opposition to Medicaid cuts.
“A lot of the things that have been happening since Trump took the office, a lot of it’s professional wrestling,” he quipped. “But for this, if they pass … the big, beautiful bill, that will change our nation, and that’s going to impact, truly impact millions and millions of people.”
