Nancy Pelosi to the demonstrators at universities: Criticize Israel as you wish, but don’t forget to denounce what Hamas did!

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, called on student demonstrators at universities to denounce what Hamas did on October 7, in addition to criticizing Israel in its war on Gaza.

Hundreds of people were arrested at dozens of universities across the United States, where protests took place and tents were set up to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Pelosi, who is close to US President Joe Biden, said, “There are legitimate reasons to speak publicly about the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and that the impact of the Israeli bombing on civilians is absolutely unforgivable”.

She also criticized the actions of the Israeli government, while saying that Israel has the right to self-defense, and that it’s not a fan of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, she called on the demonstrators to also condemn the Hamas attack carried out by Hamas Movement on October 7.

“We would like to see some enthusiasts recognize the Hamas movement as a terrorist organization that carried out a barbaric act in Israel,” she said.

Protesters interrupted Pelosi’s speech at the Oxford Union in the United Kingdom on Thursday evening, and dumped fertilizer outside her home in California.

Pelosi added, “I said to these (protesters)… Do you care about what Hamas did, do you care about what happened in Israel? What if that happened here, wouldn’t we have any response?”

In the same context, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken considered on Friday that the protests taking place in US universities against the Israeli war in Gaza are among the distinctive features of democracy in his country, but he criticized what he called the silence towards the Hamas movement.

“In our country, it’s a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens express their opinions, concerns and anger at any time, and I believe this reflects the strength of the country and the strength of democracy,” Blinken said.

The students called on the demonstrators to vent their anger on Hamas fighters who sparked the war with their attack on October 7.

The demonstrators at US universities are demanding an immediate end to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which has entered its seventh month and resulted in the killing of more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, in addition to stopping US military aid to Israel.