During an interview with the Fox News Channel aired on Friday’s broadcast of “Special Report,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reacted to claims that 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war — a claim that has been repeated by President Joe Biden — by stating that number includes a huge number of Hamas terrorists and also said that the war could end immediately if Hamas would surrender and release the hostages.
Fetterman said, [relevant remarks begin around 1:55] “I was very disappointed that our caucus wasn’t — we didn’t have the opportunity to do that. I really wanted to hear from Netanyahu. In fact, I even asked the Republicans — back channels, just like, hey, can I just sit there? And I don’t even have to [ask] any questions. And I’ve always been incredibly surprised why we’re not talking about where this was because of Hamas and the things that they’ve done and that why [isn’t there] a protest kind of a surge to demand that Hamas [surrender] on this. If you really want to end all the — just the misery and the death and the destruction, if they would just surrender, and it would end tomorrow, release everybody, send them home. And that’s been very frustrating.”
He continued, “And then we’re talking about now there [are] 31,000 Palestinians that were killed, and, well, you’re not talking about, well, 13,000 or more are actually Hamas fighters on that. So, why aren’t you breaking that out as well, too? And then, if you do, and talk about the casualty ratio, it’s actually very clear that this isn’t a genocide or that the Israelis are targeting civilians. In fact, the only ones that [target] civilians, that’s Hamas.”
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