Sunday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is now claiming that he now has lost all confidence in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s after he asserted that Israel faces a “strategic defeat” if it fails to defend civilians in the Gaza strip.
“He’s so naive. I mean, I’ve just lost all confidence in this guy,” Graham said during an interview on CNN.
“How about focusing on protecting our soldiers, men and women in Syria and Iraq? Strategic defeat would be inflaming the Palestinians? They’re already inflamed. They’re taught from the time they’re born to hate the Jews and to kill them. They’re taught math by, ‘If you have 10 Jews, you kill six. How many would you have left?’” he continued.
“This is a radicalized population. I don’t want to kill innocent people. But Israel is fighting not just Hamas, but the infrastructure around Hamas. Look what happened to the Israeli hostages when they were presented to the Palestinian population. It’s beyond naive.” he added.
When prompted by CNN’s Dana Bash to provide further details regarding his eroded confidence in Austin, Graham emphasized his dissatisfaction with the secretary’s reply.
“Well, I like Secretary Austin personally, but this war has shown to me he doesn’t understand: If we were attacked like this, which we were in 9/11, If somebody called for us within two months to have a cease-fire against al Qaeda … we’d have laughed them out of town, we’d have run them out of town.” Graham stated.
“Secretary Austin is telling Israel things that are impossible to achieve. Secretary Austin, the reason Palestinians are dying [is that] Gaza is so condensed, Hamas has tunnels under apartments, under schools, under hospitals. If you’ve got a better idea of how to destroy Hamas, pass it on. Quit criticizing Israel in public.” he continued.
During his Saturday address at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Austin discussed his endeavors to urge Israeli leaders to reduce civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli offensive resumes.
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