There are a few issues I agree with Bill Maher and Tulsi Gabbard on

I wouldn't vote for them, though.

Totally agree.   It doesn't mean you vote for people with whom you have a lot of disagreements.  It just means you are willing to work with people on specific issues where you happen to agree.   And that requires not permanently alienating them just because you disagree on other things.

How can neither of you be interested in even discussing a new path that could actually lead to regional alliances, peace, security and prosperity for the Israeli people? 

I can't believe RiV, of all people, messed this up.

The one major foreign policy achievement of the Trump Administration, and maybe of all of his achievements the one most deserving of respect, was the Abraham Accords.  Trump and/or his team recognized that if you can't cut a reasonable deal with the unreasonable Palestinians, you just try to cut deals with everybody else in the region.  And it worked.   He essentially isolated the Palestinians from much of their Arabic support, and Saudi Arabia is even now very clearly still interested in maintaining positive relations with Israel.

How do you equate continuing a doomed strategy with loving the Jewish people?

Precisely!  Which is why expecting Israel to continue the doomed strategy of just letting the Palestinians lob rockets into Israel, and launching terrorist attacks whenever the mood struck them, had to be abandoned.  Because it was a strategy that doomed the Jewish people.

What was needed instead was this new strategy of simply eliminating Hamas on the battlefield.   Just wipe it out in one brutal campaign so that the days of daily terrorism and rockets finally could be ended.

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They know that's crap.   Absolute congressional immunity protects them from legal consequences of their actions with that committee.

Red meat for the base

US lobbying other UNSC members to block Palestinian statehood bid to avoid using veto

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/us-lobbying-other-unsc-members-to-block-palestinian-statehood-bid-to-avoid-using-veto/

Recognizing that blocking the initiative would expose it to criticism abroad by proponents of the move who say it helps actualize the two-state solution that the US purports to support, the Biden administration quietly tried to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to shelve the UNSC bid, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.

Abbas rebuffed the US efforts, though, amid long-held frustration in Ramallah over what it views as Biden’s failure to sufficiently pressure Israel and refusal to follow-through on promises to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem and the PLO diplomatic mission in Washington.

Recognizing that Abbas would not heed its call, the US has worked to convince other Security Council countries to either abstain or oppose the Palestinian statehood bid, so that it isn’t forced to use its veto, the Palestinian official said.

More at link.

Palestinian president rejected U.S. requests to hold off on UN membership vote

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/17/un-palestine-membership-biden

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected requests by the Biden administration to not move forward with a vote at the United Nations Security Council on accepting Palestine as a full member of the UN, four Palestinian, U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios.

The big picture: Tension, frustration and mistrust have been growing between the Abbas government and the Biden administration over the last three years. The Palestinian president sees the administration as not acting to push a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Driving the news: The UN Security Council is expected to vote as soon as Thursday on a draft resolution that would give Palestine full member status at the UN instead of its current observer status.

•   Gaining full member status — which would amount to the UN recognizing a Palestinian state — first requires nine votes to bring a resolution before the 15-member UN Security Council.

•   The council, which includes the U.S., would need to approve the application, and it would then have to receive at least two-thirds of General Assembly votes.

Behind the scenes: U.S. and Israeli officials said the Biden administration is trying to prevent the Palestinians from getting the nine votes so the U.S. won't have to veto the resolution.

•   A U.S. veto of such a resolution, especially amid the war in Gaza, would bring sharp criticism for Biden internationally and inside his own party, including with some of his supporters.

Between the lines: A U.S. official said the Biden administration has been exploring in recent months options for a possible recognition of Palestine, but not as a unilateral bid at the UN.

•   The official said the administration looked at scenarios of recognition as part of a wider regional deal that includes a post-war plan and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Context: Two weeks ago, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN sent a letter to the UN secretary-general asking to renew the request for full membership at the UN for Palestine.

•   After the Palestinian request, the UN Security Council formed a committee to discuss it and issue an opinion.

•   The committee presented its report on Tuesday and said the 15 council members are divided regarding the question of whether they should recommend accepting Palestine as a full member of the organization, according to a copy of the report.

Over the last two weeks, the Biden administration has been pressing Abbas and his advisers to back off from their request, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials say.

•   Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue directly in a phone call with Abbas, and other U.S. officials raised it with their Palestinian counterparts almost every day in the last two weeks, Palestinian and U.S. officials say.

•   The Biden administration made clear to the Palestinians that current U.S. law compels the administration to veto such a resolution or defund the UN, a U.S. official said.

According to the officials, Abbas rejected the U.S. pressure and his aides told the Biden administration they are moving forward with the vote.

•   A senior Palestinian official said the Biden administration asked whether Abbas would suspend the bid if he is invited to meet with Biden at the White House.

•   The Palestinian official said Abbas rejected this trade-off and said he agreed to such a U.S. proposal a year ago but never got an invitation.

•   U.S. officials admitted they failed in convincing the Palestinians to suspend their UN bid.

More at link.