Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) labeled Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as “naive” Sunday for saying Israel risks a “strategic defeat” if it doesn’t take steps to protect civilians and said he lost his faith in the secretary.
“He’s so naive. I mean, I’ve just lost all confidence in this guy,” Graham said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“How about focusing on protecting our soldiers, men and women in Syria and Iraq? Strategic defeat would be inflaming the Palestinians? They’re already inflamed. They’re taught from the time they’re born to hate the Jews and to kill them. They’re taught math by, ‘If you have 10 Jews, you kill six. How many would you have left?’”
Graham rejected the idea that Israel is fighting “a tranquil population” that was “only inflamed after Israel goes in to defend itself,” saying that idea “is really naive.”
“This is a radicalized population,” Graham added. “I don’t want to kill innocent people. But Israel is fighting not just Hamas, but the infrastructure around Hamas. Look what happened to the Israeli hostages when they were presented to the Palestinian population. It’s beyond naive.”
When pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash to elaborate on his lost faith in Austin, Graham doubled down on his disappointment in the secretary’s response.
“Well, I like Secretary Austin personally, but this war has shown to me he doesn’t understand: If we were attacked like this, which we were in 9/11, If somebody called for us within two months to have a cease-fire against al Qaeda … we’d have laughed them out of town, we’d have run them out of town.”
“Secretary Austin is telling Israel things that are impossible to achieve,” he continued. “Secretary Austin, the reason Palestinians are dying [is that] Gaza is so condensed, Hamas has tunnels under apartments, under schools, under hospitals. If you’ve got a better idea of how to destroy Hamas, pass it on. Quit criticizing Israel in public.”
Austin gave a speech Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., and talked about his efforts to push Israeli leaders to lessen civilian casualties as Israel resumes its offensive in Gaza.
“The center of gravity is the civilian population, and if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,” Austin said.
“We will continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid,” he added.