‘Clearly This Aid Convoy Was Targeted’: Dan Abrams Grills Israeli Spokeswoman Over Airstrike Which Killed Seven Aid Workers
NewsNation host and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams grilled Israeli government spokeswoman Tal Heinrich on Wednesday over Israel’s response to the IDF airstrike, which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week.
After Abrams asked Heinrich for her response to World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés’ claim that the seven aid workers were “targeted deliberately,” she said:
Well, we’re not targeting humanitarians. We’re not targeting civilians. All we care about in this war is going after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. We want to eliminate this terrorist organization. What happened is very, very tragic indeed. We will draw the right lessons from it and implement it. As you know, there will be an investigation. There is in fact an investigation underway as the defense minister and the prime minister have ordered, the findings of which will be made public.
Abrams replied, “It’s clear it was targeted, right? Israel’s position is it was a mistake, but that it was still obviously intentionally hit. But José Andrés is saying that he thinks that it may have been based on things he’s said about Netanyahu.”
“I have no idea really what he’s talking about. Again, it was a tragic incident,” insisted Heinrich, before citing “other tragic incidents” that have taken place during Israel’s war in Gaza.
Abrams shot back:
But this seems like a different level, right? I understand when Hamas is hiding among civilians and you go into a building and you’re turning, coming around a corner and a mistake is made between a Hamas terrorist and a civilian, or you’re targeting Hamas terrorists and in the process some civilians are killed. All of that I understand. This one’s a little tougher to understand because clearly this aid convoy was targeted. They went after this convoy by mistake, but it was targeted. So this one does feel a little different.
After Heinrich cited previous tragedies that took place during U.S. conflicts in the Middle East, Abrams questioned, “You don’t think this one feels a little different?”
Abrams went on to play a clip of Israeli government spokesman David Mencer refusing to explicitly apologize for the incident during an interview with Channel 4 News.
“Why was it so hard to just say, ‘Yes, we apologize and we’re gonna figure out who’s responsible’?” asked Abrams. “It seems easy for Israel to say, ‘Of course we apologize.'”
“Once we know the facts, yes,” replied Heinrich, to which Abrams shot back, “Really? You have to wait?”
Watch above via NewsNation.
