I Don’t See Demands for Hamas to Surrender to Protect Civilians

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour” aired on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to polling exhibiting growing American criticism of Israel’s army response to the October 7 assault by saying that whereas he understands why individuals are heartbroken by the lack of life in Gaza, “I don’t hear the hue and cry for Hamas to respect international humanitarian law, for Hamas to maybe get out of the buildings, to get out of the hospitals, to get out of the schools so that civilians aren’t in danger, for Hamas to surrender. That would protect Palestinian civilians immediately. I’m not hearing anyone say that.”

Co-host Amna Nawaz requested, “To your point on the loss of life, the U.S. equivalent of the Gazan loss of life would be over 1.5 million people. And, as you have noted, watching that death toll rise, as you said, watching children pulled from the rubble, that guts you every time. Americans are increasingly feeling that way too. I just want to put to you our latest poll numbers from this week when people were asked about their response, Israel’s response to the Hamas attack. 38%…said the Israeli response has been ‘about right,’ but 38% also said the Israeli response has been too much. And that number is up 12% from — or 12 points, rather, from just a month ago. So, I wonder what you would say to Americans who are increasingly uncomfortable with Israel’s conduct in the war and U.S. support of it.”

Blinken responded, “I think so many of us feel the same way. This is incredibly gut-wrenching and it’s heartbreaking. But we also have to ask ourselves, what would we do and what would any country do when faced with this terrorist organization that had slaughtered its people and then said, very clearly, that it intended to do it again and again and again, if given the ability to do that, the capacity and the ability to do that? And that’s the problem that Israel has to deal with. It’s a problem that any of us have to deal with.”