Chris Van Hollen blasts Hillary Clinton’s comments about anti-Israel protesters as ‘dismissive’

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) pushed back on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s comments about anti-Israel protesters on college campuses after she had claimed they did not “know very much at all about the history of the Middle East.”

Clinton, while on MSNBC’s Morning Joe last week, said she had conversations with various young people and that she found they were uninformed about the history of the Middle East, U.S., and “many areas of the world.”

Van Hollen responded to his fellow Democrat’s comments by saying she was “quite dismissive” of student protesters’ alleged concerns while speaking on CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

“Well, I thought, Margaret, that Secretary Clinton’s comments in that regard were quite dismissive of students’ concerns about the awful humanitarian crisis and high civilian death toll in Gaza,” Van Hollen said.

He also added that while students on campus have a right to protest, they must also “make sure that students feel safe on campus,” and specifically denounced antisemitism. The various anti-Israel protests on college campuses have seen several reported incidents of intimidation and harassment of Jewish students.

Van Hollen did say that he believes most students understand the conflict and what they are protesting for.

“So we can certainly revisit history and past negotiations, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the students, not all, and there are some — there are some very bad elements that are involved, as well as on the counterprotest side, but I believe that the students do understand what’s happening in Gaza with respect to the civilian casualties,” he added.

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The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas began when Hamas terrorists committed multiple attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

With Israel’s imminent military operation in Rafah — the final Hamas stronghold in Gaza — the Biden administration has threatened to withhold some weapons shipments if they proceed.