Mitt Romney: Palestinian Civilians 'Are Being Killed Because Of Hamas,' Not Israel
At the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) decried the Hamas attack on Israel, and put the onus on all casualties on Hamas.
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00:00 This has been a heartbreaking, heart-wrenching experience for me, for my colleagues, for
00:12 you and for the world to see the people of Israel subjected to such brutality, such heinous
00:22 acts by individuals whose purpose is unimaginable.
00:29 My heart breaks not just for our friends and allies, but for people who I love and hold
00:37 dear.
00:38 Now, there are two things I'd like to mention, because I agree with what my colleagues have
00:45 just said, and I'm not going to say the same thing, but I want to add just two points.
00:51 Number one, you're going to see pictures, as you could imagine and probably already
00:56 have, of Palestinian civilians that are going to be injured and killed by virtue of the
01:06 conflict which is ongoing.
01:07 I hope you recognize that those individuals are being killed because of Hamas, not because
01:14 of Israel.
01:16 In many respects, most directly, Hamas is holding their own population, the Palestinian
01:22 population as human shields.
01:26 They're using Palestinians to protect their own lives, Hamas' lives.
01:32 And therefore, when Israel takes action to try and go after Hamas and to take out its
01:38 leadership, there will be individuals who are civilians and innocent that will be killed,
01:43 and they will parade that as if this is some horror being perpetrated by Israel.
01:47 Do not forget the lives that you're going to see lost on TV over the coming long period
01:53 of time, potentially.
01:55 Israeli lives and Palestinian lives are all the result of Hamas.
02:02 And number two – and this is a point, I think, for my friends in the United States
02:05 in particular – there is a growing sentiment in my country of isolationism, which is let's
02:14 not worry about what's going on in the rest of the world; let everybody else worry about
02:17 those things.
02:18 This is a bipartisan group that has a different point of view, which is that we want to stand
02:21 with our allies and with our friends.
02:24 But I would note with regards to those that have isolationist tendencies that there's
02:28 a war being waged – a war being waged against free countries, against democracies, against
02:36 freedom.
02:37 And it's being waged by Hamas and Russia and China, India – excuse me – Iran.
02:46 There are nations – Iran, Russia, China – that want to overthrow democracies generally
02:54 and subvert the cause of freedom.
02:59 And backing away and saying, "Hey, we're not going to worry about it," is not going
03:02 to end their effort.
03:04 That war would only continue and spread further and ultimately involve more and more of humanity.
03:11 So we're involved in the world because it's in America's interest, it's in Israel's
03:16 interest, it's in all of our allies' interests, it's in the world's interest.
03:20 This is obviously a period of great sadness, and meeting today with the families of hostages
03:27 has been something I will never forget.
03:31 And can only imagine – can only imagine the horror in their lives.
03:37 My heart reaches to them.
03:39 My prayers join with yours to see those hostages return to their loved ones.