James Gilmore, former ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and former governor of Virginia, told Newsmax on Friday that while the U.S. may be trying to gain the "moral high ground" in terms of public opinion about Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Washington "can't dictate safety and security" to the Jewish state.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly arrived in Israel on Thursday, bearing a blunt message from the Biden administration to lower the intensity of its sweeping military campaign against Hamas as soon as possible.
During an appearance on "National Report," Gilmore said he thinks Sullivan is "trying to get the United States on the moral high ground so that people across the world, particularly in the southern part of the world, don't see the United States as an imperial nation."
"I think that's the play that they're doing," he said. "But, at the end of the day, the United States can't dictate safety and security to Israel. They have to make this decision on their own."
"I think this is a very difficult task," he continued. "Their goal is to remove the threat that is right there on their border from Gaza. It's going to be very hard to do that, hard enough as it is, but I think that the Israelis are going to have to do what they have to do to protect themselves, and I support that — primarily because of the atrocities that were committed by Hamas."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced international human rights organizations and women's rights organizations for ignoring the pain of Israeli victims.
According to reports collected by The Associated Press and an assessment by Physicians for Human Rights Israel, sexual assault was a tactic used during the atrocity-filled onslaught by Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian militants who killed more than 1,200 people on Oct. 7.
Previously, Hamas had not been known to use rape as a weapon.
Gilmore said that allowing the crimes committed by the Palestinian terrorists to stand unanswered would send the wrong kind of message.
"If they're permitted to get away with this and survive and continue to threaten Israel, once again, that changes the international order, and says that atrocity, invasion and aggression is legitimate," he said. "We, as Americans, can't live in that kind of world."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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