During an interview with “NJ PBS News,” Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy (D-NJ) responded to questions on if Israel has a right to exist by saying that “It currently exists. It’s the same question that everyone keeps asking over and over again. I
The post Dem Rep.-elect Hamawy Dodges on if Israel Has Right to Exist, Defends Moral Equivalence Between U.S., Iran appeared first on Breitbart.
During an interview with “NJ PBS News,” Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy (D-NJ) responded to questions on if Israel has a right to exist by saying that “It currently exists. It’s the same question that everyone keeps asking over and over again. I think every country has a right to exist, but it should be providing equal rights to its people and providing civil liberties, human rights. And so, it currently exists. It’s a moot argument.” Before questioning why they’re talking “so much about Israel?” He also defended his prior moral equivalencies between Iran and the U.S. and prior refusal to say Iran is an adversary.
Hamawy said, “[M]y perspective is that I don’t take a binary view on all these issues. Americans, last week, voted that they don’t want war, that we want to be focusing on our domestic policy, we want to be focusing on making American lives better, and, also, how do we make Americans more safe. And creating enemies around the world is not the way to do it.”
Host Rob Nelson then asked, “And, listen, by my account, she asked you five times if Iran is an adversary. I will ask you a sixth to see how you handle that today. Is Iran an adversary, and why do you not want to say that? Obviously, you don’t believe it is.”
Hamawy responded, “I will say, we don’t want to make adversaries. And it’s not a binary yes or no [thing]. We are provoking and creating the situation that we are in right now, where we’re in a war, and it’s making lives worse for Americans. And they’re making, definitely, lives worse for regular Iranians, who are suffering because of this as well. So, how do we get out of this? We don’t get out of this by pointing and saying, this is an adversary or not an adversary. It’s like, how do we make it better for both Americans and for Iranians?”
Nelson then asked, “Part of the exchange you had on CNN was kind of, you’re getting pushed on the idea, well, they’ve said death to America for decades. And you said, well, they’ve — we’ve said death to Iran. And then she said, well, they’ve killed Americans. And you said, well, we’ve killed them. Just to be clear, when it comes to the action and the rhetoric of America and Iran, do you see a moral equivalence?”
Hamawy answered, “Well, we have President Trump saying that we should nuke Iran. That is a genocidal statement, that we are going to destroy their civilization and bomb them out of existence. So, I think that, just saying there is rhetoric on both sides that should be discontinued and that it is not productive at all.”
After the subject turned to Israel, Nelson asked, “And just to be clear, you do believe — or I should say, do you believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state?”
Hamawy responded, “It currently exists. It’s the same question that everyone keeps asking over and over again. I think every country has a right to exist, but it should be providing equal rights to its people and providing civil liberties, human rights. And so, it currently exists. It’s a moot argument. But we want something like the United States, where everyone can coexist and have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That’s what we should be enforcing around the world.”
Nelson followed up, “It’s kind of like, when you ask Republicans, sometimes, did Joe Biden legitimately win the 2020 election? And they go, Joe Biden was sworn in as president. And you’re like, well, that’s not what I asked you. I asked you, was the election fair? And, on this Israel question to you, yes, we all know they do exist. The question is, should they exist?”
Hamawy answered, “So, this is the question that I [am] asking you is, why are we talking about — so much about Israel? I got elected to be a Rep. from New Jersey, to take care of the people of New Jersey, and people here in the United States. And I want to be using my tax dollars to make sure that we have a healthcare system that works, that we have education, that we have childcare, that we unrig this economy, that we don’t have, like, ICE roaming through our streets and killing Americans. And yet we have spent this entire interview talking about Israel. Honestly, I don’t care what’s going on right there more than what I care about the American people. I want to take care of people here at home.”
Hamawy added that “everyone has a right to exist, but everyone needs to follow the laws.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
