Sen. Graham: No Confidence in Austin Over ‘Naive’ Words on Gaza

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday he’s lost “all confidence” in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over his “naive” comments about the Israel-Hamas war, including concerns that Israel’s tactics could turn Gaza civilians into future enemies.

“How about focusing on protecting our soldiers, men and women in Syria and Iraq?” the South Carolina Republican said on CNN’ “State of the Union.” “Strategic defeat would be enflaming the Palestinians? They’re already enflamed. They’re taught from the time they’re born to hate the Jews and to kill them. They’re taught math, if you have 10 Jews and kill six, how many would you have left?”

Austin, delivering remarks in California Saturday, said “The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians,” and that Israel risks turning a military victory into defeat by not doing all it can to protect civilians in Gaza.

“I don’t want to kill innocent people, but Israel is fighting not just Hamas but the infrastructure around Hamas,” said Graham. “Look at what happened to the Israeli hostages when they were presented to the Palestinian population. It’s beyond naive. Strategic failure is letting Hamas stand.”

And after Hamas is defeated, Graham said, he wants “the Arab world, the United States, and the western world to come in with a governing plan different than we have today for the Palestinian people.”

Graham told CNN that he does like Austin, but “if we were attacked like this, which we were on 9/11, if somebody called for us within two months to have a cease-fire against Al Qaeda, we would have laughed them out of town, we would have run them out of town. Secretary Austin is telling Israel things that are impossible to achieve.”

Palestinians are dying, he added, addressing Austin, because “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.”

Meanwhile, Graham discussed the tug-of-war over foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine. Senate Republicans are pushing to include border security and immigration restrictions, and he said that he will not vote for an aid package that does not secure the U.S. border. 

Graham on Sunday also addressed claims made in a new book by former Rep. Liz Cheney, who maintains that if former President Donald Trump is elected to office again, that would mean the United States is “sleepwalking into a dictatorship.”

“I think a continuation of the Biden presidency would be a disaster for peace and prosperity at home and abroad,” said Graham. “Our border is broken. The only person who is going to fix a broken border is Donald Trump. When he was president, none of this stuff was going on in Ukraine. Hamas and all of these other terrorist groups were afraid of Trump.”

He added that he thinks Cheney’s “hatred of Trump is real,” and he understands why people don’t always like what the former president says and does. 

“But in terms of actions and results, he was a far better president than Joe Biden,” said Graham. “If we have four more years of this, Liz Cheney, then we won’t recognize America and the world will be truly on fire.”