Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Sunday called Hillary Clinton “pretty dismissive” for recent comments questioning the knowledge and perspective of anti-Israel protesters who have stormed college campuses across the country.
Last week, Clinton appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and ridiculed some of the protesters, saying, “They don’t know much about the history of the Middle East and, frankly, the history of many parts of the world.” did.
Van Hollen (D-Md.) argued that many of the student demonstrators had legitimate concerns about the Israeli-Hamas war unfolding half a world away.
“In that regard, Secretary Clinton’s comments completely ignore the concerns of students about the terrible humanitarian crisis and high civilian death toll in Gaza,” Van Hollen said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” I thought I was doing it,” he said.
“I think the majority of students are protesting and are closely monitoring what is happening in Gaza,” he continued. “They recognize that the civilian death toll is very high.”
Clinton said she has had “a lot of conversations” with young people over the past seven months since the war erupted in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis. explained.
She then highlighted her husband, former President Bill Clinton,’s efforts to break through the two-state solution in the 1990s.
“A proposal was made to give the Palestinians 96% of the existing territory occupied by the Palestinians and 4% of Israel, in order to achieve the desired 100% of the territorial area,” she said. I reminisced.
However, the Palestinian leader at the time, Yasser Arafat, rejected the offer.
Hillary Clinton is a professor of public affairs at Columbia University, which has been embroiled in violent protests, anti-Israel encampments and the occupation of Hamilton Hall amid on-campus clashes over the conflict. Ta.
Professor Van Hollen also said campuses must protect students’ free speech rights and “ensure students feel safe on campus” and “eradicate anti-Semitism and hatred.” emphasized.
Earlier in the interview, the Maryland senator spoke about President Biden’s plan to suspend shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns that Israel was planning a ground attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. defended the decision.
“Remember, the president of the United States warned us this.” [Israeli] prime minister [Benjamin] Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly said that a full-scale invasion of Rafah would cause the United States to change its policy.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored the US president, ignored his efforts to reduce civilian casualties, ignored our efforts to further increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, and ignored efforts to recover the hostages. I have ignored my priorities.”
Last week, the State Department released a report finding there was a “reasonable assessment” that Israel was violating international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.
Around that time, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley cited the events of World War II, saying that “before we got all self-righteous about what Israel was doing,” the U.S. suffered heavy civilian casualties. He said that we should recognize that we have been at war.
“The United States has not been perfect. We are far from perfect. But since World War II, we have adopted many more measures to limit harm to civilians,” Van Van. Whalen said of Milley’s comments.
Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly estimated that approximately Seven months of fighting in the Gaza Strip has killed 16,000 civilians along with 14,000 terrorists.
