Lindsey Graham: 'Here's My Question' To Spain, Norway And Ireland For Recognizing Palestinian State

4 months ago

On the Senate floor, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) slammed nations recognizing Palestinian statehood, and slammed the ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 - Mr. Harris from South Carolina.

00:02 - Thank you very much.

00:03 To kind of continue on the theme

00:06 of my good friend from North Carolina.

00:09 Apparently today or yesterday,

00:12 the countries of Ireland, Spain, and Norway

00:15 recognized a Palestinian state.

00:18 Here's my question.

00:19 Who's in charge of the state?

00:21 Who's running the place?

00:23 And what are its boundaries?

00:25 Did you recognize Hamas being in charge of Gaza?

00:28 Do you wanna keep the PAs we know it now

00:30 in the West Bank, it's old and corrupt?

00:32 What did you recognize?

00:33 These are allies, but they need to hear from a friend.

00:38 What you did is reprehensible.

00:41 You're rewarding terrorism.

00:43 On October the 7th, Hamas attacked the state of Israel

00:47 and murdered 1,200 innocent people,

00:49 put babies in ovens, raped women,

00:56 set people on fire, and recorded it all.

01:00 And your response is to create a Palestinian state?

01:04 You're rewarding terrorism.

01:05 The way a Palestinian state will be created, if ever,

01:10 is through direct negotiations

01:12 between the state of Israel and Palestinians,

01:15 not a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state

01:20 after the largest terrorist attack

01:22 against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

01:25 To my friends in Ireland, Spain, and Norway,

01:28 what you did was reward Hamas.

01:30 Here's the message you're sending.

01:32 Kill Jews and you'll get a reward.

01:35 Again, tell me about the state you just recognized.

01:40 Who is in charge and what are the boundaries?

01:43 You can't answer those questions.

01:45 But you went ahead and recognized the Palestinian state

01:51 for political reasons.

01:52 The world is turned upside down.

01:54 And Madam President,

01:55 you've been a stalwart defender of Israel,

01:57 and we appreciate it.

01:58 Here's what I would say.

02:01 After October the 7th,

02:04 Hamas is engaged in using the Palestinian people

02:07 as human shields at a level I haven't seen in warfare.

02:10 And the response is to punish Israel,

02:13 who is in a no-win situation.

02:15 The battalions have to be destroyed.

02:17 The tunnels are underground.

02:19 Why do you need a 2,000-pound bomb?

02:21 Because there are underground tunnels

02:23 that only a major bomb will be able to destroy.

02:27 When it comes to civilian infrastructure,

02:29 the destruction of it has been in large part

02:33 because Hamas has used schools,

02:35 mosques, and hospitals as military sites,

02:41 putting all that infrastructure in place in jeopardy

02:45 by militarizing it.

02:46 On top of all that,

02:50 the International Criminal Court

02:51 has decided to issue an arrest warrant

02:54 for the Prime Minister of Israel

02:56 and the Defense Minister of Israel,

02:58 as well as Hamas leaders.

03:00 Boy, is the world turned upside down.

03:03 To consider Israel like Russia,

03:07 Putin's had an arrest warrant issued

03:10 'cause there's no rule of law in Russia.

03:11 People fall out of windows who are opposition leaders.

03:15 People get poisoned.

03:16 There is no rule of law in Russia.

03:18 There is a robust legal system in Israel.

03:21 It's probably the pride of the world.

03:24 The most independent judiciary maybe on the planet

03:27 lives and resides in Israel.

03:30 So Israel's not Russia,

03:33 and the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister of Israel

03:37 are not Hamas.

03:39 But in the ICC world, they're all the same.

03:42 That's despicable.

03:43 Here's what's happened.

03:46 Apparently, a lot of legal experts,

03:49 some well-known famous people,

03:52 advise the ICC that Israel needed to be charged,

03:57 the State of Israel, the Prime Minister,

03:58 and the Defense Minister,

04:01 they're legal experts under international law.

04:04 I would not pay these people five cents,

04:08 given my understanding of the Rome Statute.

04:11 I, along with seven members,

04:13 four Republicans, and four Democrats,

04:17 engaged the ICC weeks ago,

04:20 arguing that for you to bring a charge

04:25 against the State of Israel,

04:27 you would have to believe that the judiciary in Israel

04:31 is not independent, and Israel's not acting in good faith,

04:35 they're acting in bad faith,

04:36 when it comes to allegations against Israeli forces

04:40 and policies of Israel.

04:42 It's called complementarity.

04:44 Israel is not a member of the ICC,

04:47 nor are we.

04:49 In 2015, the ICC recognized the Palestinians

04:53 as a state for ICC purposes,

04:55 even though they're not recognized by the UN.

04:58 Why they did that, I don't know.

05:00 But they took over jurisdiction of this conflict.

05:03 And where do we lie now?

05:05 May 20th, a couple of days ago,

05:10 a representative of the ICC

05:12 was supposed to land in Israel

05:14 to set up a meeting between legal officials,

05:18 government officials of the State of Israel,

05:20 and the prosecutor, Khan, next week.

05:23 The group that I was involved in urged the ICC

05:28 to set out and talk with Israel, called complementarity.

05:32 Under the Rome Statute, the ICC cannot act

05:35 if the nation in question,

05:38 unless the nation in question is unable or unwilling

05:41 to proceed with an investigation,

05:43 or if the investigation is conducted in bad faith.

05:46 There is no way you can find Israel

05:49 is not acting in good faith

05:52 when they were willing to meet you two days ago.

05:55 So here's what happened.

05:57 We were misled and lied to by the ICC.

06:00 This group thinks they have jurisdiction

06:03 of the entire world.

06:05 They're gonna roam the globe and right wrongs.

06:08 They're created to deal with voids

06:10 where there is no rule of law.

06:13 They're created to deal with the voids

06:15 that are in the world.

06:16 They're created to deal with the voids

06:18 that are in the world.

06:19 They're created to deal with the voids

06:21 that are in the world.

06:23 They're created to deal with the voids

06:25 that are in the world.

06:26 They're created to deal with the voids

06:29 that are in the world.

06:30 They're created to deal with the voids

06:33 that are in the world.

06:34 They're created to deal with the voids

06:36 that are in the world.

06:38 They're created to deal with the voids

06:40 that are in the world.

06:42 They're created to deal with the voids

06:44 that are in the world.

06:45 They're created to deal with the voids

06:48 that are in the world.

06:49 They're created to deal with the voids

06:51 that are in the world.

06:53 They're created to deal with the voids

06:55 that are in the world.

06:56 They're created to deal with the voids

06:59 that are in the world.

07:00 They're created to deal with the voids

07:02 that are in the world.

07:04 They're created to deal with the voids

07:06 that are in the world.

07:08 They're created to deal with the voids

07:10 that are in the world.

07:12 They're created to deal with the voids

07:14 that are in the world.

07:15 They're created to deal with the voids

07:17 that are in the world.

07:19 They're created to deal with the voids

07:21 that are in the world.

07:22 They're created to deal with the voids

07:24 that are in the world.

07:26 They're created to deal with the voids

07:28 that are in the world.

07:30 They're created to deal with the voids

07:32 that are in the world.

07:33 They're created to deal with the voids

07:36 that are in the world.

07:37 They're created to deal with the voids

07:39 that are in the world.

07:41 They're created to deal with the voids

07:43 that are in the world.

07:44 They're created to deal with the voids

07:46 that are in the world.

07:48 They're created to deal with the voids

07:50 that are in the world.

07:51 They're created to deal with the voids

07:54 that are in the world.

07:55 They're created to deal with the voids

07:57 that are in the world.

07:59 They're created to deal with the voids

08:01 that are in the world.

08:02 They're created to deal with the voids

08:04 that are in the world.

08:06 They're created to deal with the voids

08:08 that are in the world.

08:09 They're created to deal with the voids

08:11 that are in the world.

08:13 They're created to deal with the voids

08:15 that are in the world.

08:16 They're created to deal with the voids

08:18 that are in the world.

08:20 They're created to deal with the voids

08:22 that are in the world.

08:23 They're created to deal with the voids

08:25 that are in the world.

08:26 They're created to deal with the voids

08:28 that are in the world.

08:30 They're created to deal with the voids

08:32 that are in the world.

08:33 They're created to deal with the voids

08:35 that are in the world.

08:37 They're created to deal with the voids

08:39 that are in the world.

08:40 They're created to deal with the voids

08:42 that are in the world.

08:43 They're created to deal with the voids

08:45 that are in the world.

08:47 They're created to deal with the voids

08:49 that are in the world.

08:50 They're created to deal with the voids

08:52 that are in the world.

08:54 They're created to deal with the voids

08:56 that are in the world.

08:57 They're created to deal with the voids

08:59 that are in the world.

09:00 They're created to deal with the voids

09:02 that are in the world.

09:04 They're created to deal with the voids

09:06 that are in the world.

09:07 They're created to deal with the voids

09:09 that are in the world.

09:11 They're created to deal with the voids

09:13 that are in the world.

09:14 They're created to deal with the voids

09:16 that are in the world.

09:17 They're created to deal with the voids

09:19 that are in the world.

09:21 They're created to deal with the voids

09:23 that are in the world.

09:24 They're created to deal with the voids

09:26 that are in the world.

09:28 They're created to deal with the voids

Lindsey Graham: 'Here's My Question' To Spain, Norway And Ireland For Recognizing Palestinian State

Category

Transcript

Recommended