Jayapal on Israeli Response: When You ‘Raze an Entire Population’ and ‘Don’t Have Proportional Hits’ You Lose Support

On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN NewsNight,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) stated that while Hamas should be eliminated, “when you go in and you just raze an entire population and you don’t follow humanitarian law, you don’t have proportional hits compared to what was done to you, if you violate all of those terms, all you do is you actually turn more people against you.”

Host Abby Phillip said, “You’ve called for a ceasefire or a cessation of hostilities. That’s been echoed, basically, by your colleague, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). But, Sen. Murphy (D-CT) has said that Israel needs to be more proportional and deliberate in its carrying out of this campaign. Is it possible, in your view, for Israel to be more proportionate without them ending their campaign to wipe out Hamas, which carried out that horrific October 7 attack on their nation?”

Jayapal responded, “Well, there’s no question that the October 7 attack was horrific, that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and it needs to be eliminated. The question is how. And what we have seen over and over again, and experts in terrorism who are not particularly progressive, have said the same thing, that when you go in and you just raze an entire population and you don’t follow humanitarian law, you don’t have proportional hits compared to what was done to you, if you violate all of those terms, all you do is you actually turn more people against you.”

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