At a town hall in Centennial, Colorado, Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) said that Israel is not conducting its war against Hamas in the right way.
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00:00yeah there is a lot going on yeah Palestine is big what is being done to stop the genocide are
00:12we still giving our tax dollars for the missiles and things or is there some things that are being
00:17slowed down there some way when I came into Congress I actually formed the protection of
00:31civilians and conflict caucus because of my own experience in seeing civilian casualties in war
00:38and in conflict and I've led on that along with Andy Kim who's also now in the Senate and Sarah Jacobs
00:45from San Diego and we have led efforts to try to prevent civilian casualties this war this conflict
00:51requires first of all the 40 plus thousand civilian casualties is just completely unacceptable by by any
00:59measure it just should not be happening this conflict requires that we hold many things to
01:04be true which is not easy in our current politics in our current environment and what can be true
01:11so the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and statehood and deliver in
01:16peace and dignity but it's also true is Israel has the right to exist as the Jewish homeland and
01:27to also live in peace and security and dignity but the path for that as outer reaches it may seem right
01:37now is for a two-state solution of which I have fought for a very very long time I've traveled there
01:43I've spoken with Palestinians I've spoken with Israelis I've gone to the West Bank I have taken a deep dive
01:49on this issue and we cannot we cannot give up hope on that because ultimately that is the way the true peace so
01:57that is also true another component of that is it's not just enough to say that you're going to protect
02:06yourself but you also have to do it in the right way right and I did this I had experienced doing this
02:12in war where you have a mission and you're trying to defend or accomplish your mission and you do have to
02:20focus on those civilians right because there is a right way and a wrong way to do it and I have been very vocal in offering
02:27my critiques my suggestions my pressure to make sure that we are doing everything possible to protect civilians
02:34in this conflict and I will not stop being vocal about that because not just our credibility but
02:40the moral aspects of this are at play as well
02:43I agree with everything that Jason just said and I would say you know one of the things that he said
02:53that I believe is very very important is that we cannot let go of the two-state solution as the answer to
03:02the situation that we're facing there and people are giving up on that there are people in the region who
03:07have given up on that and there are people in our political system here on both sides who have given
03:13up on that and I think that's a huge mistake because it really is the only way out of the permanent state of
03:22war that people are in right now and it has been an epic human tragedy what has happened and it has been
03:33absolutely appalling to see the lack of care that Benjamin Netanyahu has had for the Palestinians who
03:42have suffered in this conflict and I think it is an abomination that he has done nothing to make it
03:49easier to get humanitarian aid in to Gaza as well we need this war to come to an end we need there to be a
03:58peace in this region and then we have to figure out how to build that two-state solution and it is an
04:06example where the United States has a critical role to play here as the leading democracy in the world
04:13it's hard for us to play that role when we have a president who doesn't think that's important and
04:19doesn't care about the democracy and every day is figuring out how to undermine it that jeopardizes our
04:25credibility around the world as well in ways that are very very fundamental and when he's flying over
04:33there to you know take the in one airplane the the biggest piece of graph that all the presidents
04:42together in our country's history have not ever taken it creates huge problems as well in the region so
04:50I'm grateful that we have Jason's experience on the battlefield as he thinks about these questions
04:56and I lean on him a lot to understand the issue. In the food aid, can I add, I'm just going to add one
05:02of the thing I was with Cindy McCain recently and she's the head of the world food program right now
05:08and she told me unequivocally that there has been no food that has been allowed to enter Gaza since March 2nd
05:16it is I mean there that it is unacceptable by any any measure and I'm putting pressure any in every
05:24way that I know how to say it's unacceptable the Trump administration is not listening to me to us
05:29I have communicated that to everybody who will listen anybody who will listen because it just cannot be a
05:36like it cannot it cannot stand by any any stretch and you have my promise that I am exerting as much
05:44pressure as possible to stop that state of affairs and to get food and medicine flowing again