Peter Beinart: ‘Frankly a Racist Claim’ To Say ‘Palestinians Would Inevitable Kill Jews in the West Bank’

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” CNN Contributor and The Atlantic Contributing Editor Peter Beinart argued that it is “frankly a racist claim” to say that “Palestinians would inevitably kill Jews in the West Bank,” in response to an argument made by  former CIA Director Amb. James Woolsey.

During the segment, Woolsey said that “Israeli Arabs — that is, Muslim, usually, as citizens of Israel, about one-sixth of the Israeli population, can go to bed at night without fear that someone’s going to bash in their front door and kill them. … That sort of life is not possible for a Jew living in the West Bank, governed by the Palestinians. They will be killed. And if you even sell property to an Israeli, you’ll get killed.”

Beinart later responded, “The claim that Palestinians would inevitably kill Jews in the West Bank, I have Jewish friends, Israelis who live in the West Bank. It’s frankly a racist claim to suggest that Palestinians would inherently kill Jews.

He added that “some Palestinians commit terrorism and many don’t.”

(h/t NewsBusters)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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