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John Fetterman is the Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania who suffered a serious stroke in the course of his campaign. If he is not at the limit of his recovery he is still recovering. Yet a brain-damaged John Fetterman has distinguished himself from the Democrat pack with his undiluted support of Israel and a clearer understanding of Israel’s current ordeal (to take just one example close at hand) than some of the speakers at President Trump’s rally last night, about whom John writes in the adjacent post.

Fetterman not only cuts through the fog, he expresses himself with admirable concision, as in his interview with the left-wing writer Lulu Garcia-Navarro published here by the New York Times last week. The entire interview is worth reading. Below I have excerpted several of her questions and his answers on Israel’s defense of itself in the war. Ms. Garcia-Navarro began with a question about the rationale of Fetterman’s support of Israel. His answer is below, with her questions following in bold.

Quotable quote: “There isn’t any nuance.”

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Fetterman: I think it’s really about, that’s our ally. There’s a special relationship. And now if anyone that studies history realized that if you aren’t willing to stand and protect and support the Jewish community, that can end in incredibly terrible, awful ways. That’s what history has taught us. And now to anybody that doesn’t follow the history and not even aware of a lot of it: Err on the side of democracy. And that is the only democracy in the middle of that region. And I’ve had the chance to visit there. And that’s the kind of society that have those same kinds of values that we live and what we aspire to, especially, ironically, progressives, especially for women and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. communities. And that’s why, for me, it’s an easy choice.

In January, you were one of two Senate Democrats, the other was Joe Manchin, who didn’t sign on to support a measure endorsing the creation of a Palestinian state. This was part of a national-security package that included military aid to Israel. Can you explain that vote to me?

Fetterman: I really used to believe that it should be a done deal for a two-state solution. That became part of the boilerplate for Democrats. And I assume that must be true. But the way things have evolved and where we’re at now — I mean, that would be ideal. I wish there could be peaceful two states. But the way things continue to evolve, I’m unsure if that’s even possible. I’m hopeful, but I’m not convinced that’s even viable. But what seems to be true and one of the enduring truths through this is that Israel continues to confront the kinds of singular evil that really manifest its way in Oct. 7. And they have the right to destroy Hamas, and now Hezbollah. You know, everybody, experts describe Hezbollah as like the ultimate badass, and Israel demolished them. And there’s no leadership left. And those are the kinds of hard things that needed to finally be confronted if they’re ever going to have some more enduring peace.

I think there are two things going on. One is the destruction of Hamas and Hezbollah, which are deemed terrorist organizations by the United States. And then there’s how you go about doing that and what is the cost. And people would look at the cost of how many people have been killed, civilians in Gaza, and say that the cost is too high. So I guess I’m struggling to understand a little bit of the nuance there from you.

Fetterman: There isn’t any nuance.

You think that the price that’s been paid is fair?

The price is terrible. It’s awful. That’s history. And that’s war. And Israel was forced to fight an enemy that are cowardly. They hide in tunnels. They hide in schools and in refugee camps. And they’re in those kinds of places and that forces them to reach them. They have to go through these civilians. That’s why they’re so evil. And that’s why that’s designed. The death and destruction and the misery was designed by Hamas. They understood that that’s going to happen. They don’t care. So we can both agree that the misery and the deaths in Gaza is terrible. And, you know, some people blame Israel. Well, I blame Hamas.

As you mentioned, you visited Israel for the first time in June. You met with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who thanked you for your courage and your support of Israel. How do you see his leadership during this conflict?

Fetterman: I thought it was really curious that Democrats felt like they needed politically to criticize Israel, but that would be difficult, so they found that, well, we’re going to just focus on Netanyahu. And you can think he’s a bad leader or a bad person or anything, but that happens to be the democratically [elected] leader of Israel. And he’s on our side. That’s our ally. And if you had to pick who you want to criticize, you should be criticizing Hamas. You should be calling out Iran, or you should be calling out Hezbollah. Certainly not, you know, our ally. I think it was incredibly unhelpful.

Last month, the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh chapters of the Council on American Islamic Relations issued a joint statement where they condemned you for saying that you loved Israel’s pager attacks targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

I do. Absolutely.

They said, “When our elected officials start condoning the civilian loss of life, our collective moral compass is irreparably harmed.”

It was targeted for members of Hezbollah. You know, no one uses beepers in that situation other than they were a member of Hezbollah.

There was a young child who was killed.

Unfortunately, tragically, because Daddy was a member of Hezbollah. He brought that danger and evil into their home. And that’s what tragically resulted in that poor child’s death. And that’s what’s so terrible. She paid the price because her father was a terrorist for Hezbollah.