Capehart: Lefty Protests Are Putting Pressure on Biden 'To Get Something Done' on Israel, But He's Not Thinking Politics

On Friday's “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart said he believes that “there are no political considerations involved” in President Joe Biden's policy towards Israel, but left-wing critics of the administration's approach are putting pressure on Biden “to get something done.”

Capehart said, “I take the administration at its word. I believe the administration when they say, from the President on down, their considerations about how they're handling the Israel-Hamas war and dealing with Israel, there are no political considerations involved in that. And I think that is one of the reasons why so many people are upset. If the President were playing politics with this situation, he would be doing all sorts of things to try to please the people who are demonstrating, who are doing encampments at universities.”

He continued, “But I would say to the people who are protesting and the young people who are upset and all of the folks who are upset at the President and the administration for what they're doing, I keep thinking about the thing that President Obama used to say to criminal justice activists and others who were really upset with him for not doing lots — more things on criminal justice or racial issues, and he would say to them, I need you to keep protesting on the outside, because that puts pressure on me on the inside to get something done. And I think that is what's happening.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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