The State of Israel said that it was “unfortunate” that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had said that neither Hamas nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be trusted to abide by a ceasefire, were one to take hold.
Brown reportedly said Sunday that he opposed a ceasefire in the war in Gaza “only because I don’t trust either Hamas or frankly [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu would live up” to it.
Brown made the controversial comments on video, as recorded by a TikTok influencer named Justin Jordan, who later claimed that Brown’s staff tried to convince him to delete the video.
Brown also implied Netanyahu and Hamas were similar, in that both opposed a two-state solution — ignoring the fact that Netanyahu is striving for peace, and Hamas is not.
Brown added: “Both Hamas and Netanyahu oppose a two-state solution, and that’s underscoring or undergirding the problem.
Here’s the video:https://t.co/baqywdgM04
— Andrew Tobias (@AndrewJTobias) March 20, 2024
The Daily Dot reported on the “influencer” meeting, which included Jordan and other TikTok personalities:
“Senators, before you leave, do you support a ceasefire in Gaza?” Jordan asked while recording with his phone.
…
Booker had a longer [answer], Jordan said, explaining that he supported peace in the region but would only support a bilateral ceasefire where Hamas lays down its weapons too. Brown piped up that he’d support that too, but that he didn’t think Hamas would ever do that.
Jordan says he was then asked by Awo Eni, Brown’s Digital Content Director, and another staffer to delete the video.
On Thursday, Breitbart News asked Israeli government spokesperson Raquel Karamson about the incident.
She replied that it was “unfortunate” that Brown had equated Hamas and Israel, noting that “every ceasefire in the last few years has been broken by Hamas,” and that Israel “has always adhered to every ceasefire.”
In November, after a week-long truce for the release of hostages and prisoners, Hamas broke the ceasefire and returned to war.
Many Democrats have demonized Netanyahu ever since he opposed President Barack Obama on the Iran nuclear deal.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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