As Israel continues to press its war against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed sympathy for a heckler who claimed that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza during a campaign event on Saturday.
Video footage surfaced over the weekend of an exchange between Harris and an anti-Israel heckler at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in which the man interrupted her and exclaimed, “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide you invested in?” Harris responded, “I know what you’re speaking of. I want the ceasefire. I want the war to end.”
As the man was being escorted out, Harris told the crowd, “Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real. It’s real.”
The claim that Israel is specifically targeting Palestinians in Gaza for annihilation has been a consistent accusation by anti-Israel protestors across the U.S. in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the ensuing war that has taken place between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The claim remains entirely unfounded. Observers have noted the painstaking efforts that IDF forces have used to warn civilians of missile strikes before carrying them out, as well as surgically precise strikes like its recent pager attack against Hezbollah.
Observers have also noted Hamas’s tactics in battle as being notorious for using civilians as human shields and deliberately using hospitals and other civilian facilities as outposts. As reported by National Review, the number of civilian deaths in Gaza that anti-Israel activists often cite as proof of “genocide” have yet to be verified by a trustworthy source:
“The Gaza-casualty figures the protester cited — announced by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which progressive activists frequently cite — are unverified. The figures do not distinguish between innocent civilians whom Hamas puts into the cross fire and the Hamas fighters and operatives killed during the war. Analysts have disputed the veracity of the numbers because of how quickly they come in and the linear trajectory of the death count.”
Meanwhile, amid the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing push for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to continue to receive funding and support from Israel despite its ties to Hamas, new details have emerged surrounding the death of Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar. Among the articles found on Sinwar’s body by IDF forces was a passport belonging to Rafah native Hani Zourob, whose occupation was listed as “UNWRA teacher.”
The news adds to the extensive ties that UNRWA has to terrorist groups, including 19 of its staff members being accused of participating in the October 7 massacre, Hamas tunnels found directly under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza, and the leader of Hamas in Lebabon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, working as an UNRWA teacher and principal before his eventual death in an Israeli air strike.
On Friday, Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN News, joined “Washington Watch” to discuss the path forward for Israel following Sinwar’s death.
“[Sinwar’s death] follows a year of fighting for IDF forces where they have killed perhaps as many as 20,000 or more terrorists and decimated their infrastructure, their tunnel systems, much of their command and control, [and] many of their munitions,” he noted. “… Khaled Mashal may be the last remaining [top leaders of Hamas]. He’s in Doha, Qatar [and is] living in luxury. And it also brings up the question about the influence of Qatar. Many people have questioned that they’re hosting these Hamas leaders and also have been funding Hamas for years and actually giving them billions of dollars through that time. So it remains to be seen what will happen to that leadership.”
Mitchell concluded by asking for prayers for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“[P]ray for the release of the hostages that so many have been praying fervently for a long time,” he urged. “Pray for the comfort for their family members and continue to pray for wisdom for the leadership of Israel, for Prime Minister Netanyahu. … Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for comfort for the Israeli people that have gone through so much, as well as the Jewish people around the world. They’re celebrating right now the Feast of Tabernacles … and commemorating how God protected the Israelites during their time in the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land. Here we are, thousands of years later, they’re back in the Promised Land.”
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.