In a recent interview, the pro-Israel senator told JNS that he doesn’t see a need for the United States to get involved with Hamas, but he’d encourage U.S. President Donald Trump to “consider joint operations with Israel if we can’t do diplomacy to disarm Hezbollah like we did with Iran.”

American kinetic action in Lebanon is very unlikely though.

“Trump uses force in the Middle East very selectively and reactively against critical or imminent threats,” Jonathan Ruhe, fellow for American strategy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JNS. “Trump wants to be perceived as ending conflicts in the Middle East, not deepening America’s involvement in them.”

Regarding Hamas, Graham believes that Israel should go into Gaza and “finish Hamas off.”

The senator acknowledged that the Gaza-based terrorist group is not heeding Trump’s demand for it to disarm. He also believes Trump’s proposed international stabilization force of Arab nations in Gaza is unrealistic.

“We’ve hit a wall,” Graham told JNS. “There is no way to disarm Hamas through some Arab force.”

It’s become clear that Arab countries are not interested in participating in dismantling Hamas in the way Trump might have hoped, according to Ruhe.

“Any countries that would contribute forces, many of them Arab and other Muslim countries, have made clear they won’t forcibly disarm Hamas,” he told JNS. “They don’t want to be seen to do Israel’s ‘dirty work,’ and they won’t risk collateral damage to fellow Muslims, namely Gazan civilians.”

Graham therefore thinks that Israel should prioritize operations in the Strip.

“The longer we play around with this, the more they regenerate,” he said, of the terror groups. “We have to have a dose of reality here. Hamas is never going to give up their weapons and never going to give up power unless somebody makes them.”

Graham believes that weakening and disarming the groups will speed up the process of normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“Once Hamas has been neutralized and Hezbollah has been weakened, I think, is your best chance to normalize,” he said.

Graham told JNS that he discussed normalization with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in a November meeting in Washington. The senator acknowledged that the Saudis have conditions that need to be met.

During his November meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, the prince, known as MBS, said that the kingdom wants to be part of the Abraham Accords and also to secure a “clear path” to a two-state solution.

“I think he’s openly expressed desire to normalize relations with Israel,” Graham told JNS. “He believes it’s to the political and economic benefit of Saudi Arabia to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

Graham hopes to see a future Palestinian “entity” that doesn’t threaten Israel and would be an “antidote to terror.”

“The only way you’re going to stop terrorism and radicalization is to replace it with something better,” he told JNS. “I don’t think you could ever have a Palestinian entity in the West Bank or Gaza until the radical elements have been defeated militarily.”

Graham thinks that Israel and the Arab world need to spearhead development of a long-term solution for the Palestinian people.

“America cannot get on the ground and change Gaza or the West Bank,” he said. “Israel has limited ability to do that. The key is the Arab world.”

“The reason I’m hopeful is that MBS in Saudi Arabia and MBZ in the United Arab Emirates have proven to me that they have modern societies, they practice Islam in a fashion that we can all coexist, they’re very growing economic powers,” he said. “They don’t have any interest in Hamas surviving.” (MBZ refers to Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.)

Back home, with Jew-hatred continually rising, Graham said that he will support revoking federal funding for public universities where Jewish students feel “threatened” and cannot “safely attend.”

“America wouldn’t tolerate for one moment a black student being racially harassed, nor should we have the same attitude about the Jewish population,” he told JNS.

He also said that we need to “push back” on forces within the Republican Party that feel that Israel is a liability to the United States and that it isn’t within the U.S.interest to support Israel.