On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) stated that she worries the Gaza peace proposal “is being set up to just give Israel a green light to go ahead and continue the genocide on Palestinians.” And responded to a question on whether it’s incumbent on Hamas to take the deal by saying that “it’s incumbent on everyone to recognize that it has to be a discussion, and that if you’re going to back an entity, a terrorist organization like Hamas into a corner, then you kind of know what the outcome is going to be.”
Tokuda said, “I think we all want to see peace. We want to see an end to this genocide. My hope is that the president and Netanyahu will have room that, if Hamas comes back and wants a discussion on anything, that there would be a willingness to have those discussions, sit-downs at common tables together. I think we’ve seen, even within the federal government and the shutdown situation alone, if you just push a take-it-or-leave-it situation on people, they’re more likely to rebuke it. And, in this case, I just truly worry that the situation is being set up to just give Israel a green light to go ahead and continue the genocide on Palestinians.”
Later, host Blake Burman asked, “Is it incumbent upon Hamas to take this deal?”
Tokuda answered, “I think it’s incumbent on everyone to recognize that it has to be a discussion, and that if you’re going to back an entity, a terrorist organization like Hamas into a corner, then you kind of know what the outcome is going to be. And, I think, again, I don’t want this, as the president was saying, if they fail to accept the offer, then it’s a green light for Netanyahu to go and continue his — basically, his genocide on the people of this land. So, I really, really hope that they understand that this has to be about what is best for people, what saves lives, what gets aid immediately into the region — people are starving, we’ve got famine going on–. The situation is absolutely dire. It’s been dire for the last two years. This has to stop, but it means we have to be willing to sit in common rooms together, and not just hand edicts out, 20-point, 30-point edicts out. We have to be willing to talk about what’s best for people.”
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