Andrea Mitchell Confronts Former PLO Spox For Refusing to Comment on Hamas Terror: ‘We’re Talking About Civilians’
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell confronted a former spokesperson for the Palestinian Liberation Organization who claimed the Hamas attack on Israel wasn’t being “put in the proper political context.”
“I know that there are many grievances over many decades by the Palestinians and a lot of tension and conflicts in the West Bank, very recently, over the last year, intensifying. Can you react to this threat from Hamas now to threaten to execute hostages, who include women, children, the elderly, who were taken from their homes if there are any more air attacks?” Mitchell asked.
Diana Buttu declined to respond to the threat.
“Andrea, this is the problem, is that I don’t think that this is put in its proper political context,” she said. “This isn’t just a war, this is actually an occupation that has gone on now for 56 years,” she said, continuing:
What we’re seeing now is sadly the result of years of lack of action on the part of the international community to actually end this occupation. I’ve been listening to your broadcast for a while now, and I haven’t heard anyone use the term “occupation.” They make it seem as if this came from nowhere. And sadly, this didn’t come from nowhere. When we understand where the roots are, the fact that this is the result of the denial of freedom, that we’ll be able to come together and put into place measures to actually end this and to look forward, and to actually make sure that all people get to live in peace and dignity and security, and in freedom.
“Let me just ask you, though, because you have grievances against Israel and there has been violence on both sides over the years. Does that justify taking people out of their homes of all ages — we’re not talking about military people, we’re talking about civilians, children and elderly people, men and women — and taking them into Gaza and threatening to execute them?” Mitchell asked.
“Again, Andrea, I’m not the one who’s doing this, so it shouldn’t be me who’s asked to comment on it,” Buttu said. “What I do want people to understand is what life in the Gaza Strip is like.”
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
