White House: Anti-Israel Protests ‘Largely Peaceful’, Iran Is Funding ‘Some’ of Them

On Thursday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby acknowledged that some of the protests against Israel are funded and encouraged by Iran, but Iran wasn’t behind all of it and that the White House condemns the actions of people demonstrating against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech and “There’s a lot of organic concern in the United States by Americans who feel passionately about what’s going on in Gaza, and they are expressing those passions through largely peaceful protests around the country.”

After host Leland Vittert noted the White House’s condemnation of what took place on Wednesday and asked about Iran’s role in the protests, Kirby said, “[W]e know, because the director of national intelligence made it public, that Iran is trying to sow discord here in the United States, and is, in fact, funding some of this protest activity and encouraging some of this protest activity. But I don’t think you can look at the wide swath of protest activity in the last few months and say that Iran was behind it all. It just doesn’t comport with the facts. They’re not. There’s a lot of organic concern in the United States by Americans who feel passionately about what’s going on in Gaza, and they are expressing those passions through largely peaceful protests around the country. That’s what democracy’s all about. That’s what the president stands for. Heck, that’s what he’s trying to defend and that’s why he made his decision to step aside and not seek re-election.”

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