Hoyer Breaks with Dem Cease-Fire Calls: ‘Hamas Ought to Stop,’ Israel Has ‘Moral Duty to Protect’ Its Citizens

On Wednesday’s “CNN Newsroom,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) broke with calls from other Democrats for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and stated that his version of a cease-fire is “Hamas ought to stop, and if Hamas stops, the Israelis will stop.” And that Israel has “a moral duty to protect their citizens.”

Hoyer said that he wants the fighting to stop, but “Hamas does not respond to requests, and they initiated rockets. They’ve been doing rockets on a regular basis, and it would be irrational not to think that the Israelis are not going to respond to protect themselves and their people. However, the president wants — and I think he’s talked to Netanyahu — wants the fighting to come to a close and try to see if we can negotiate. But frankly, terrorists are very difficult to negotiate with, and a terrorist organization like Hamas that does not want Israel to exist has no reason to negotiate.”

He added that he has not gone as far as other Democrats “Because I’m not sure how you get a terrorist organization to honor or to pursue a cease-fire. I think there ought to be a cease-fire. I think that Hamas ought to stop, and if Hamas stops, the Israelis will stop. But the Israelis are confronted with a no-win situation. They’re getting hammered by rockets, thousands of rockets from Hamas, from civilian areas of Gaza, and the world expects them, I suppose, in some instances, simply to not respond. That’s not a tenable alternative. And certainly, it’s not an alternative the United States would follow if rockets were coming at us from Canada or from Mexico. … And the Israelis have, not only a right to defend themselves, they have a moral duty to protect their citizens.”

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