During his Senate confirmation hearing held today (Tuesday) for Trump's designated Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Hegseth was asked by Republican Senator Tom Cotton: Do you support Israel's war in Gaza? He responded: "I support Israel's right to destroy and kill all members of Hamas, down to the last one."
At the beginning of the hearing, he vowed to foster a "Pentagon warrior culture" and to be a "agent for change" for Trump.
Senator Cotton is also considered a friend of Israel, and in December 2024, he introduced a bill in Congress that would stop the federal use of the term "West Bank" in the United States and replace it with the term "Judea and Samaria." Cotton wrote: "The historical and legal right of the Jewish people to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years. The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term 'West Bank' to refer to an area that is the biblical core of Israel."
Recall that in the last hour, outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "the terrorist organization has recruited almost as many new operatives as it has lost." Blinken added that "the Palestinians deserve a political horizon and self-determination, Israel must accept the unification of Gaza and the West Bank under the unified control of the Palestinian Authority."
The 44-year-old Hegseth, known for his outspoken views, has sparked outrage by criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the military. In his latest book, he controversially questioned whether the U.S. military’s top general owes his position to his race.
* Kikar Hashabbat contributed to this article.
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