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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has issued a dire warning to President Joe Biden and his administration following a marked rise in anti-Semitic protests in the U.S. after his country declared war on Hamas a month ago following a deadly surprise attack.
During a Sunday appearance on CNN, Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the network: “I think that the situation right now is shocking. We are on the brink of a catastrophe even here in the United States.”
“We see now thousands of people chanting ‘Death to Israel,’ ‘Death to the Jews.’ We see Jewish students all across the United States on college campuses that are being threatened, not only by other students, by their professors. And presidents of universities cannot even condemn the terror attack,” Erdan continued.
“So, right now, I think it’s already too late to say that we expect them to speak up or call out the anti-Semites. We expect to take — to see actions. We expect them to expel students, to fire professors who are anti-Semitic. We expect them to call the police to investigate the harassments of Jewish students,” he added.
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“This is truly unacceptable, the situation, right now. And, as I said, we are on the brink of a catastrophe. Any moment, we might see a terror attack against a Jewish community here in the United States,” he predicted.
Earlier, he told host Dana Bash that Hamas is responsible for the hardships currently taking place in Gaza, noting that Hamas fighters use civilians as shields and set up their operations within civilian population centers and institutions like hospitals and schools.
“I’m not saying that the life in Gaza is great. And, obviously, Hamas is the only one that should be held accountable for any situation in Gaza,” he said. “But there is a standard due to international humanitarian law. What does it mean, a humanitarian crisis? And I’m saying, again, there is no humanitarian crisis, based on the international humanitarian law right now in Gaza.
“By the way, only last night, everyone could watch thousands of Gazans near the Shifa Hospital with electricity, with their cell phones watching a movie how the Hamas terrorists are slaughtering Israeli civilians and soldiers,” Erdan said. “So, obviously, you can even see it on the streets of the Gaza.”
“We do everything that is possible to minimize, to mitigate civilian casualties. Hamas is the only one that should be held accountable. Otherwise, if we accept the modus operandi of Hamas, Western civilization societies can never win and destroy terrorist organizations,” Erdan said. “It will inspire all terrorist organizations across the globe because that’s the way now they attack our democracies.”
Pressed further by Bash to explain, Erdan said:
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I’m not denying that the situation in — the humanitarian situation in Gaza is very bad. And it’s very sad that, for 16 years, Hamas exploited all the money that was transferred to Gaza, instead of investing it to build hospitals or desalination — water desalination power plants, only to turn Gaza into a war machine. It’s very sad, but Israel shouldn’t be held accountable for this situation. We have a goal now to destroy Hamas’ terrorist capabilities to prevent future atrocities from being — happened. And it will happen, not only in Israel, but all across the globe because other terrorist organizations will be inspired.
In addition to protests on university and college campuses, tens of thousands of people descended on the White House over the weekend to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel, leading Michigan Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the progressive “Squad” whose family is Palestinian, to accuse him of being complicit in “genocide.”
