Eliot Engel actually said...

We have a vital interest in ensuring that any reconciliation in which Hamas becomes part of the PLO does not happen.

It is extremely important that the conflict in Gaza ended with the United States as supportive of Israel as when the conflict began.

And being a Jewish State doesn't mean that only Jewish people can live in that state. It means that it is the homeland of the Jewish people.

I think it is very unfortunate because in the Middle East, that distance is perceived as a source of Israeli weakness.