Wendy Sherman: Israeli PM destabilized the Middle East

Biden’s deputy secretary of state: Netanyahu helped ‘create a genocide in Gaza’

Veteran Jewish diplomat Wendy Sherman says US also responsible for what unfolded in the Strip, then clarifies that she can’t make legal analysis whether genocide ‘literally’ occurred

Wendy Sherman, who served as deputy secretary of state for much of former US president Joe Biden’s administration, has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the perpetration of a genocide in Gaza.

Speaking to Bloomberg’s “The Mishal Husain Show” last week, Sherman said, “I think that it is critical that Israel remain an ally of the United States, and that we protect the right of a Jewish state.”

“But I also believe that the prime minister has led us down a road — and we have been part of it that has, in essence — created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East,” Sherman added.

Sherman appeared to walk back the allegation when pushed.

“I can’t make the legal analysis about whether it is literally a genocide. But there is no doubt that Gaza was demolished.”

“Palestinians deserve a home, dignity and peace. Israel absolutely deserves security and peace. I’m a strong supporter of Israel and the right of a Jewish state, but I am not a supporter of destroying any civilization, or any people. That goes for the Palestinians or the Iranian people, as much as I might find the regime odious,” said the former deputy secretary of state, who helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during Barack Obama’s presidency.

Israel insists that it fights in accordance with international law, and has rejected allegations of genocide or other war crimes in its campaign against Hamas. It has noted evacuation warnings sent in advance of airstrikes; efforts, throughout most of the war, to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid; and Hamas’s systematic use of human shields.

While most Biden officials have expressed significant frustration with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, they have refrained from lodging accusations of genocide.

The remarks by Sherman pointed to an ongoing shift within the Democratic Party, where such rhetoric of Israel is becoming increasingly mainstream.

Sherman, who is Jewish, retired from the State Department in the summer of 2023, several months before Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that sparked the Gaza war.

Asked in the Bloomberg interview whether the US could have done more to restrain Israel, Sherman said presidents from both parties “have not dealt with the Middle East in a way that’s helped create stability and peace.”

“Obviously, the Iraq war was a disaster. Then, Obama tried to deal with Iran — that was undone by Trump. Could the Biden administration have done more? I’m sure we could have. Every administration, in hindsight, could have done more,” she said.

“The politics in our country have been very tied up with our relationship with Israel, in many ways. It’s a tough call and something we all have to unpack.”

Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris came similarly close to definitively accusing Israel of genocide last year.

She was asked during an October interview whether she would use the term to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza — a question that has increasingly become a litmus test in Democratic circles.

“Listen, it is a term of law that a court will decide,” Harris responded. “But I will tell you that when you look at the number of children that have been killed, the number of innocent civilians that have been killed, the refusal to give aid and support, we should all step back and ask this question and be honest about it.”

Several US lawmakers, including Vermont’s Jewish Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive, and former far-right Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have described Israel’s conduct in Gaza over the past two years in Gaza as a genocide, but the allegation has not gotten mainstream support in Congress.