Ex-Obama Pentagon Chief Explains Why Egypt Won’t Let Gazans Flee Israeli Airstrikes, Calls On U.S. to Freeze the $6 Billion to Iran
Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, who served in both the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations, joined Fox News on Thursday and weighed in on the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas War.
“Egypt apparently is not going to allow Gazans to flee into Egypt. And is there something then to be said about the Americans being able to reach out to say we’re trying to protect innocent life there, give them a chance in order to get out of the situation in the area before we see if the Israelis do what they have to do?” asked anchor Dana Perino to kick off the interview.
“Well, what I’ve read is that the Egyptian government and the U.S. are in negotiations, actually, the Egyptians, with the possibility of some kind of an escape corridor for several hundred Americans and others from international relief organizations and others that have been in Gaza to escape into Egypt,” Gates replied, adding:
By the same token, I think that President Sisi of Egypt has no interest in having hundreds of thousands of Gazans on Egyptian soil. They are a security problem there, an economic challenge, and Egypt is reeling economically right now. So I, I suspect that Egypt’s interest in having significant numbers of civilians from Gaza come into Egypt is very, very low.
Perino then asked Gates about Hamas leaders living in “luxury” in Qatar and whether or not Qatar should “give them up” for arrest. Gates readily agreed and argued that conversation should be taking place right away given the horrific Hamas attack on civilians in the south of Israel that left some 1,200 dead.
Anchor Bill Hemmer then jumped in and asked, “Could you freeze that $6 million, 6 billion sorry, $6 billion to Iran?”
“Could you do that now? And what’s the harm in doing it if for nothing else? I mean, Americans all over the place and in the Middle East were wondering why, why, why not freeze that money? And the second question I would have is that, like Hamas is connected to Iran, so is Hezbollah in the north. Why don’t you think Hezbollah has made a move in this first week, just yet?” Hemmer added.
“Well, taking the second question first, I think Hezbollah will try to distract the Israelis without getting involved in a full-scale war with Israel,” Gated replied, adding:
The Israelis have a lot of capacity. Their military has not been significant, has not really been harmed at all by the attacks that took place a few days ago. So Israel has predominant military strength and I think Hezbollah will try and distract the Israelis. I think we’ve seen a few attacks in the north. If the war goes on in Gaza for a prolonged period, then you may see both the West Bank and Hezbollah become much more troublesome for the Israelis. But I think for now, Hezbollah will hold its fire.
“Why not freeze the 6 billion now?” Hemmer followed up.
“I see no reason at all not to freeze the $6 billion. You know, I’m one of those who believe money is fungible and $6 billion spent on humanitarian and medical assistance is $6 billion they don’t have to spend that they can allocate to two military and other kinds of activities. So I certainly would put a freeze on that, at least for the time being,” Gates responded.
Watch the full clip above via Fox News.
