James Risch Asks Trump's Ambassador Nominee About Ireland's 'Horrible Mistake' On Israel-Palestine

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During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. James Risch (R-ID) accused Ireland of making a 'horrible mistake' regarding its diplomacy with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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00:00Thank you, Ms. Campos. We're now going to turn to a round of five-minute

00:05questions and for those of you who don't usually watch this committee, you see all

00:10the comings and goings. It started with the people who introduced our witnesses

00:15and then the panel has to come and go but we all have overlapping demands on

00:21our time and it's it's awkward but we somehow get it done and we appreciate

00:26your indulgence in that regard. So starting with questioning, first of all, as far

00:35as the Netherlands is concerned, Mr. Papa, I hope you will be able to convey to the

00:39Dutch those of us who work in a national security lane so much appreciate their

00:46understanding of their place in the supply chain on semiconductors. Semiconductors are

00:54a national security issue. It's a really unfortunate circumstance that the we've

01:03been through in in year in recent years where the United States invented this

01:08technology and then the manufacturers and inventors drawn by the siren of cheap

01:14wages moved everything to to Asia and now because it is so critical to everything we

01:21make, particularly defense but in automobiles, refrigerators, anything you

01:25have has these in. The Dutch play an incredibly critical role because they're

01:30the bottleneck. They make the machines that make the machines that make the

01:33semiconductors and they have been very good with us as far as understanding that

01:41selling the highest technology to the Chinese is a real problem for national

01:47security. They've been tremendous in that regard and I hope you'll be able to

01:50I hope you'll be able to convey to them the appreciation that we have for that.

01:57Thank you, Senator. The State Department did a great job of briefing us in certain

02:02things and that is one of them, just how critically important a partner of the Dutch

02:07are in national security and technology and export controls with respect to China.

02:12So absolutely I will convey those thoughts. Thank you, I appreciate that.

02:20Concerning Ireland, my grandmother was a Murphy, no relation I'm sure to Senator Murphy,

02:26at least I don't think so. In any event, I gotta tell you, it's heartbreaking to see the mistake that the

02:34Irish are making regarding the Jewish state and Hamas. It's absolutely heartbreaking, is all I can say,

02:47as far as watching that, with zero recognition of what Hamas did on October the 7th. And I truly hope that,

02:58Mr. Walsh, that this is going to be a tough needle to thread when you've got a close ally making a horrible mistake,

03:07but you've got to thread that needle. And I hope you will convey the message that they are very much out of

03:15step with the United States as far as, as far as their relationship with those countries in the Middle East. Your thoughts?

03:24Yeah. Thank you for the question. It certainly is a topic that we're going to be discussing for a long time,

03:32and I am looking forward to getting really a detailed brief on all the issues relevant to this. But I do know

03:39that President Trump's been very clear, along with many of you, that Ireland is an ally. And there's

03:47no room for anti-Semitism throughout the world. So it definitely will be a big part of my conversation

03:53with them. And I do look forward to that. But I clearly, I hear you. Be glad to meet with you on it.

04:01I'll meet with you again on it, if you want to. And hopefully when you come over, we'll meet and

04:07even have other meetings, if you would like. And I do understand the issue. But I'm really looking

04:13forward to kind of diving into more of the detail. It's going to be a tough needle to thread,

04:17but they are an ally. Senator Shaheen.

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