RFK Jr. Shreds Leftist Host on Israel Border Wall: ‘If Mexico Attacked Us and We Built a Fence, Would You Blame Us?’

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign event &q
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Joshua Klein

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clashed with Breaking Points host Krystal Ball, comparing Israel’s situation to a hypothetical one of America being attacked by Mexico, while accusing the Palestinians of being exceedingly “pampered” and firing back at Ball’s relentless fault-finding against the Jewish state, stating: “Everything in your mind is telling you to blame Israel, instead of blaming Hamas.”

In a fiery interview with Breaking Points, hosted by Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with Ball over who is to blame for the Palestinians’ suffering in Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

After Ball argued that Israel defending itself against Hamas by pursuing the terrorist organization after the October 7 massacre — which saw the torture, rape, execution, immolation, mutilation, and abduction of hundreds of innocent civilians and was the deadliest attack against Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust —  is “fomenting increasing support for Hamas” by “radicalizing” the population even more, Kennedy asked her how she would “get rid of Hamas” if she were Israel.

“Well, I’m not running for President of the United States,” she replied, before proposing a “targeted raid” and creation of a “wedge between Hamas and the civilian population.”

In response, Kennedy accused Ball of “filibustering.” 

“You’re not answering the question. You’re saying ‘drive a wedge.’ Well, of course Israel is trying to drive a wedge,” he said.

Ball then suggested Israel try the “path to a two-state solution or some sort of a just and lasting peace,” to which Kennedy responded that Israel has repeatedly sought peace while being met with terrorism and violence in return. 

“The Palestinians not only have rejected that, but Hamas, its whole purpose — the reason that Hamas was able to get all this popular support and take over — was because of its opposition to any negotiation,” he noted.  

Ball then cited a senior Hamas official who recently suggested the terror group could recognize Israel in order to end Israel’s offensive. This was largely seen as a ploy, considering the group’s very charter calls for Israel’s utter destruction. However, she failed to mention that the official had already retracted the statement, claiming it was taken out of context, while insisting that Hamas still rejects recognition of Israel and vowing, “The resistance will continue.”

Arguing that Ball’s claims were “just not true,” Kennedy pointed to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s recent appearance on Al Jazeera TV where he vowed to repeat the October 7 massacre “again and again and again — we will never negotiate.”

When the former MSNBC host attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the presidential hopeful noted that Israel is a “divided country,” and emphasized that Hamas is a “criminal enterprise.”

Regarding Ball’s proposed “solutions for the Palestinian people,” Kennedy asserted that the Palestinian people are “arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the history of the world.”

When she noted that many Gaza residents have long suffered hunger, Kennedy asked: “Why is that? Why are you blaming Israel for that?” 

Ball admitted it was Hamas’ fault “in part,” before once again attacking Israel, this time for having “imposed a blockade” on the Gaza Strip.

Kennedy, in turn, went on to explain that Israel was not to blame for Gaza’s predicament:

First of all, Israel has no obligation. Israel built 3,000 hothouses and gave them [over] for greenhouses. That would have made Gaza completely food self-sufficient. Gave it to them as a gift. Offered to rebuild the port of Gaza, to make it the Singapore of the West. Hamas said, ‘No, we don’t want Jew money. We don’t want Jew ideas.’ And what did they do? The international aid agencies have given Hamas — have given Gaza — more than 10 times per capita what we gave to rebuild all of Europe after the Marshall Plan. They’ve gotten $8,300 per capita — every person in Gaza. We rebuilt Europe with $621 per capita, in Europe, and we rebuilt it.  

Instead of making use of those funds to make Gaza a “paradise,” Kennedy added, Hamas refused and, instead, stole “virtually all that money… so the top five leaders of Hamas are [now] billionaires.” 

“Ismail Haniyeh has $5 billion, according to Forbes,” he noted.

When Ball attempted to interrupt him again, Kennedy continued. “Let me just finish now because you are making a statement that is just wrong. It’s not Israel’s fault that Gaza is poverty stricken,” he said. “Gaza should be one of the wealthiest states on the Mediterranean.”

Ball again insisted Israel was to blame owing to the fact that Gazans “have no control over their own territory,” and the Jewish State “controls everything that comes in and goes out.”

The independent 2024 presidential candidate responded by putting events in context, noting that such things happen “if you go to war.” 

“Why do you insist on blaming Israel?” he asked. “Why aren’t you blaming Hamas?” 

When Ball claimed that American tax dollars “do not go to Hamas,” but to Israel who is currently bombing Gaza, Kennedy highlighted that “most of our tax cut dollars have gone for the Iron Dome, which is a way of not invading Gaza.” 

“Our country and Israel for 16 years have expended this huge amount of money to try not to go into Gaza,” he said. “Well, Gaza sent 2,000 rockets a year, suicide bombers and of course, Israel… [has] gone in five times and every time they’ve signed a peace agreement with Hamas and every time they [Hamas] have violated that peace agreement.”  

After Ball accused Israel of “caging” Palestinians in the West Bank by building a border wall, Kennedy was quick to present a comparable analogy.

“Listen, if Mexico attacked us and we built a fence, would you blame us for ‘caging in’ Mexico?” he asked. 

“I don’t know what it is, but everything in your mind is telling you to blame Israel, instead of blaming Hamas,” he added.

Click here for the full segment on Israel and Gaza.

Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group whose charter calls openly for the murder of Jews and the elimination of the Jewish state through relentless jihad, perpetrated the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history in October, in an operation stemming from its radical beliefs. 

The attack saw some 3,000 terrorists burst into Israel by land, sea, and air and gun down participants at an outdoor music festival while others went door-to-door hunting for Jewish men, women, and children in local towns who were then subjected to torture, rape, execution, immolation, and kidnapping.

The attack resulted in about 1,200 dead inside the Jewish state, over 5,300 more wounded, and at least 242 hostages of all ages taken — nearly 140 of whom remain in captivity.

WATCH: Monument to Children Held Hostage by Hamas

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News

The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.

Hamas has a history of expressing extreme anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, and anti-American rhetoric.

After the assassination of the Al-Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh condemned the killing of the “Arab holy warrior,” calling it “a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.”

Identifying as a faction of the Islamic resistance, Hamas’ goal is to establish a global Islamic caliphate.

According to senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar, the ultimate aim of the Palestinian war with Israel is to conquer the planet and finally be rid of “Zionism” and “treacherous Christianity.”

In 2005, Israel completely “disengaged” from Gaza, uprooting 8,000 Jews and razing existing Israeli settlements, effectively giving Gazans virtual autonomy over the strip.

Palestinians largely viewed the move as a retreat under violent pressure, reinforcing groups like Hamas who claimed their tactics were effective. The perception likely influenced Hamas’s electoral victory in early 2006, as they campaigned on having expelled Israel through force. 

Post-withdrawal, attacks on Israel persisted, with terrorists firing missiles at and carrying out suicide bombings against civilian population centers within the Jewish state.

In October, Kennedy announced he would run as an independent instead of challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, believing that the nomination process is skewed against him.

Having refused to attack former President Donald Trump, insisting he is “proud” the former president likes him even if they disagree on “most” issues, Kennedy has been labeled the most hated presidential candidate by the media with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson calling out the establishment’s attempt to constantly censor him.

Nonetheless, along with entrepreneur Elon Musk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kennedy has the highest net favorability of any public figure in the United States, according to a recent Harvard-Harris poll.

In July, he slammed the “anti-Israel” Democrat Party, which he accused of becoming the “party of war” and of having “lost” its way.

“[When] they look at Israel, their narrative is that Israel is an imperial state perched on an oppressed indigenous population of Palestinians,” Kennedy stated. “There’s no understanding of the history at all.”

Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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