(This story has been updated to add information)
Sen. John Fetterman said he not only supports but “loves” the suspected Israeli attack that detonated pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon last week, killing dozens and wounding thousands.
“I fully support — in fact, I quite like — the actions taken by Israel to blow up the pagers and walkie-talkies and then target and eliminate Hezbollah members and leaders,” Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
More: Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon expand to most widespread attack since Oct. 7
Fetterman’s comments came after Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
“Every time an agreement appears to be in sight, Prime Minister Netanyahu moves the goalposts, brings up new demands and undermines it,” Sanders said on the Senate floor, in a video clip played for Fetterman. “It’s clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu is prolonging the war in order to hang on to power.”
Fetterman said he completely disagreed with Sanders. With the pager attack, “Israel has shown that it will not allow terrorists to get away with it, and I fully support that,” he added. Two children were among those killed by the destroyed pagers.
Fetterman has voiced his unwavering support for Israel since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last October.
His stance has angered left-leaning Democrats, who accuse him of moving too far to the right from his pragmatic progressive message in his bid to win the Pennsylvania election.
Mr Fetterman, who rejected the labelling of himself as a “progressive”, visited Israel a few months ago and met with Mr Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.
Pager and walkie-talkie attacks intensify Israel-Hezbollah conflict
The pager and walkie-talkie attacks, which saw thousands of devices suddenly explode across the country over two days, killed 37 people and injured more than 2,700, some with fingers blown off and others losing eyes. Among the victims were an 8-year-old girl and the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon.
Following the explosion, Beirut International Airport banned both types of devices from being carried on planes, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has also suspended the use of all communications equipment, Reuters reported on Monday.
Israel has neither denied nor confirmed its involvement in the attack, but reports have said that Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, planted a small amount of explosives in the bomb.
Hezbollah vowed to exact “fair punishment” from Israel over the attack, which a senior member of the militant group called one of its worst security breaches this year.
The explosion escalated tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which have been exchanging regular cross-border attacks since going to war last October following a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Lebanese health ministry said on Monday that 100 more people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, the first to hit Lebanon in at least a year. Attacks occurred across Lebanon from the southern border to northern areas close to Syria. Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
The attack was the latest in a series of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and hundreds of Hezbollah rockets fired from across the border. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel struck around 300 targets over the weekend.
“Even if Hezbollah doesn’t get the message, I promise you they will,” he said.