Dem Rep. Manning on Question on ‘Hamas Adjacent’ Dems: We Have ‘Wide Tent’, Most Say Israel Has Right to Exist

On Wednesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) responded to a question on how the Democratic Party ended up with members of Congress that are “Hamas adjacent, if you will, or Hamas apologists?” By stating that “the Democratic Party has a wide tent. There are people with many different views, but I have to say, the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues believe that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.”

After playing video of Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) defending campus protesters, host Leland Vittert asked, “Congresswoman, how did the Democratic Party end up with members of Congress who — I hate to say this, but are Hamas adjacent, if you will, or Hamas apologists?”

Manning responded, “So, the Democratic Party has a wide tent. There are people with many different views, but I have to say, the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues believe that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. They understand that the war that is being — that’s taking place right now was started by Hamas, a jihadist terrorist group, who invaded Israel on October 7, 3,000 Hamas fighters invaded the country, went house to house slaughtering people, raping women, mutilating people, burning people alive. It was a horrific event. And Hamas brought on to the people it is supposed to represent, the Palestinian people, this disaster, by hiding among civilians, building their weapons caches under churches and hospitals — mosques and hospitals. And there’s a difference of view.”

Host Leland Vittert then cut in to ask about President Joe Biden’s response to the protests and Manning defended Biden’s response to antisemitism and said that he’s stood behind Israel.

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