Ex-Biden Spox Jen Psaki Tells Colbert President Should Have Cut Off Arms to Israel Earlier

Jen Psaki, former White House press secretary under Joe Biden, said the president should have acted sooner to halt weapons shipments to Israel.

Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett Wednesday that he would not supply “offensive weapons” for Israel to attack the Hamas stronghold of Rafah. Rafah is also where more than a million Palestinian civilians are sheltering.

Psaki told Stephen Colbert, “I do think that there’s some leverage we’re all seeing being used. Should it have been used earlier? I think the answer is yes to that. But we are seeing them pull back in the sending of weapons. That’s actually a pretty significant sign, given that the United States and Israel has a long-standing connection on military support, where the United States is a big provider of that.”

Colbert asked, “Has the United States done that many times before, withhold the weapons?”

“Not many times before, but it has happened before. But not many times before, but that is a pretty significant step,” Psaki answered. “Prime Minister Netanyahu, I would say, is someone Joe Biden has had a tricky, challenging, difficult relationship with for some time. People don’t always see that. That isn’t talked about.”

Psaki then answered an earlier question from Colbert about how Biden can better appeal to younger voters:

It’s very hard and difficult to explain the nature of diplomacy. It’s just very hard to talk about what’s happening behind the scenes, sometimes because if you do, you’ll ruin the diplomatic talks and the conversations. But, outreach, and connection, and listening to young people, and hearing from them is certainly an important part of that. He is going to talk to Morehouse University, he is going to do that commencement address there in a couple of weeks. That’s a good step. They could be doing more of that. And I think that’s an important part of their outreach that they’ll have to do in the next couple months.

Netanyahu said in a statement, “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails and with that same strength of spirit, with God’s help, together we will win.”

Watch the clip above via The Late Show on CBS.