Senate delegation led by Graham meets Netanyahu for talks on Iran, Hamas

A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israel Defense Forces’ Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Later that night, speaking during a press conference at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv, Graham told reporters “the overarching theme” of the meetings with Israeli government officials was Iran.

“Iran with a nuke is a nightmare for the Jewish state; it’s a nightmare for the world because Arabs will want a nuclear weapon of their own, and you’ll have a nuclear arms race,” he said, adding that the prospect of the Islamic regime developing a nuclear bomb keeps him up at night.

“This man [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and his regime are hell-bent on three things: purifying Islam in their own image—the Sunni Arabs—destroying the Jewish state and driving every Westerner out of the Mideast,” Graham explained in his remarks.

“So every decision I make as a senator in this region is to make sure their nuclear ambitions are never met,” concluded the U.S. lawmaker.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not provide a readout of the meeting, which also included in attendance Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

‘You are not alone‘

Blumenthal said Netanyahu emphasized to the visiting delegation “how important strengthening and enforcing the sanctions are to deterring and weakening Iran,” explaining that “maximum pressure works.”

He stated that “the United States can send a message to Iran. The president said that if there wasn’t a release of hostages, there would be hell to pay; now Iran ought to be the one to pay hell.”

Blumenthal’s threats to the Islamic Republic were echoed by Ernst, who concluded her remarks by saying: “Iran, Hamas, we are coming for you.”

According to the U.S. representatives, the meetings on Monday also focused on the “day after” the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“Now how does this war end? It ends with the destruction of Hamas, it ends with people being able to leave Gaza if they want to, but the ones who choose to stay [can]. What’s next? And Iran’s on the top—gotta get that done [or] nothing works,” Graham said in response to a question.

Earlier, the delegation met with the families of hostages still held in Gaza, exactly 500 days after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

“To hear the 500 days of hell that they have been through; none of us can imagine what that is like and being here again, one feels the collective sense of trauma that the nation has been through and continues to be through,” Schiff told reporters at the presser. He added: “You are not alone—the United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”

For his part, Kim said that “it was immensely powerful to be able to stand here alongside Israel, commemorating 500 days since the attacks.”

“It was important to remember the over 40 Americans that were brutally killed on that day, and then the hostages that we are seeking to have released,” the senator said, highlighting the plight of New Jersey native Edan Alexander, who is among the U.S. citizens still being held captive by Hamas.

The meeting with the hostages’ families took place at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, where the delegation also toured the “6:29—From Darkness to Light” exhibition featuring the testimonies from 35 women who survived the Oct. 7 terrorist onslaught in southern Israel.

“There’s a lot of division in America but not over this,” Graham said after the museum tour. “Here I am, in Israel, 500 days after the second-largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Evil must be confronted, deterred and destroyed. It will always return if we are not vigilant.”

During a meeting at the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday, Jerusalem’s top diplomat, Gideon Sa’ar, “emphasized that Iran seeks to compensate for its weakened position by obtaining nuclear weapons,” he said.

“We discussed regional issues, including Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, the Houthis and Iran,” according to a statement from Sa’ar’s office.

‘There can never be a nuclear Iran’

The Senate delegation to the Jewish state coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first official trip to the region since taking office.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Netanyahu on Sunday, Rubio described Iran as “the single greatest source of instability in the region.”

“Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran,” America’s top diplomat declared. “There can never be a nuclear Iran.”

Rubio also stressed that the release of the hostages held by Hamas is “not optional” and that the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group “cannot continue as a military or government force” in the Gaza Strip.

©️JNS