On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, who served as CENTCOM Commander under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, responded to President Joe Biden’s claim that Hamas can’t launch another October 7-style attack against Israel by stating that while it may be more difficult for them to do it, they will still have that as their goal and “Hamas’ political leadership and its military leadership at the very senior levels is still in place.”
Host Elizabeth Vargas asked, “President Biden — switching slightly to the other side of this equation from Iran to Israel — President Biden on Friday said that Hamas can no longer — no longer has the ability to launch an October 7-style attack, that it has been done damaged enough by the IDF. Do you agree?”
McKenzie responded, “Hamas has been attrited. Certainly, a lot of their combat formations have been taken down by the Israeli Army, but Hamas’ political leadership and its military leadership at the very senior levels is still in place. And we know the fundamental principle of Hamas’ ideology is destruction of Israel. So, it may be that it would be harder for Hamas to launch that type of attack, but Hamas will still aspire to launch that type of attack, and I think that’s something we just need to recognize.”
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