CNN political commentator Scott Jennings went off on a panel guest after she accused Israel of committing genocide in Israel and said President Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden were complicit.
During a “CNN NewsNight” discussion of Russia’s war on Ukraine on Monday, “Majority Report” co-host Emma Vigeland said the United States is “complicit” in the “genocide in Gaza.”
The notion that there is a “genocide” in Gaza has been hotly contested, as has the number of casualties since the data has been supplied by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is managed by Hamas.
“I do think that the kind of elephant in the room here is the United States completely losing – and the Biden administration is immensely complicit in this as well – moral standing throughout the world due to our complicity in the genocide in Gaza, which has made it very difficult for us to speak to Ukrainian sovereignty and having a bully like the Russian government invading their sovereign territory,” Vigeland said.
She continued citing the Health Ministry’s characterization of the death toll, saying that there are “hundreds of thousands of people presumed dead” and adding that they are “crushed to death under rubble because of United States bombs.”
“This will go down as one of the worst crimes in the history of humanity that our government, the Biden administration, and the Trump administration are complicit in,” Vigeland concluded.
Jennings jumped in, urging host Abby Phillip to open a debate on this point.
“We don’t have time,” Phillip said.
“We have time for the anti-Israel propaganda. Unbelievable,” Jennings said, pushing back.
“Honestly, I don’t understand. Israel’s our ally,” he added. “Not a single word in your speech for the atrocities that were committed on October the 7th. Not a single word for the idea that Israel has every right to defend itself. Not a single word for the fact that Hamas right now is killing people inside of Gaza, their own people.”
Raising his voice, the conservative commentator continued: “You seem to lay it all at the feet of Israel – a democratic ally – and your own country, and you have no word for the terrorists who raped and murdered and kidnapped. Zero! None!”
“Excuse me. B’Tselem, Israeli human rights group, says they’re committing genocide,” Vigeland sretorted, referring to a July report by the organization.
The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 others hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.
After two years of fighting, the US, under President Trump, brokered a ceasefire in October between Israel and Hamas, which included the release of all the hostages.
But the peace plan has been tenuous and fighting has broken out in pockets since, as the Trump administration has pushed both sides to move to phase two of the cease-fire pact.
