Gottheimer: Hamas Did Ceasefire PR Stunt Because Campus Disorder 'Emboldened' Them

On Tuesday's broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) stated that Hamas is “emboldened” by the protests and violence on college campuses and that's why they engaged in a “PR stunt” on a ceasefire on Monday and that Columbia canceling its commencement was giving in to people who took over buildings and endangered people.

Gottheimer stated that it's extremely disheartening that Columbia canceled its commencement and “You don't want to back down to people who take over buildings and are causing campus unrest and putting people — putting the safety at risk of other students. To me, that's unacceptable, that's the line we need to draw.”

He added, “[Y]esterday was just a big Hamas PR stunt. They have felt, as we've seen them say publicly, emboldened by these protests on college campus[es] and the violence on college campuses where people are screaming in support of Hamas. We are Hamas, a lot of these kids are screaming out in support of these terrorists. And I think we need to make sure we level set here and make it clear that until Hamas frees the hostages, including the Americans, stops firing missiles as they did, just again, this morning, at the crossing where humanitarian aid is coming over in Gaza, until they actually stop doing that and back down on attacking Americans and other proxies attacking Americans, until that happens, it's very hard to see this moving forward. I'm hopeful and optimistic that this will be different today, but the bottom line is, Hamas keeps walking away from the negotiating table, and that's incredibly frustrating.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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