On Monday, Peter Doocy, the Fox News White House correspondent, asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (KJP) if President Joe Biden views pro-Palestine protesters as extremists.
Since the Islamic terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, there has been a dramatic increase in anti-Israeli protests across the United States. Anti-Semitic chants were heard, swastikas were waved, and accusations were made that Israel was behind the incident.
Doocy asked KJP if Biden thinks the protestors who are anti-Israel are “extremists.”
KJP, clear as mud, claimed she was being transparent about her answer. She emphasized that antisemitism has no place in today’s society, and we must make our disapproval of it loud and clear. That is when she pivoted and said to remember that the events of Charlottesville in 2017 played a role in the president’s choice to seek the presidency. He watched neo-Nazis marching down the streets of Charlottesville with horrible antisemitic venom, and he was unequivocal then, and he’s pretty clear now. Through his efforts over the past two years, he has made it abundantly apparent that there is no tolerance for hate speech.
KJP made it sound like she answered Doocy’s question when she did not.
Doocy followed up, noting that we often hear KJP addressing extremists, specifically MAGA fanatics. He asked if the demonstrators at universities who make Jewish students feel unsafe are extremists.
She said she hoped she made herself clear- We condemn all forms of bigotry, all types of hate.
Once again, she refused to call anti-Israel protestors “extremists.”
According to Jean-Pierre, Biden overturned Trump’s travel restriction on citizens of many predominantly Muslim nations in the Middle East to curb terrorism. She claimed that the president’s decision to end the ban was a statement against religious bigotry. She brought up the inter-policy committee that works to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The administration has labeled some GOP members as dangerous MAGA radicals who pose a threat to the republic.
