Independent presidential candidate Cornel West described the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel as a "counter-terrorist" response during a Thursday interview.
West and Melina Abdullah, his recently-announced running mate, did not criticize the Palestinian militant group for its actions in the ongoing war and declined to condemn the Oct. 7 attack.
"There's no doubt that there's a variety of different Palestinian voices in the resistance movement," West told CNN anchor Abby Phillip during the Thursday night appearance. "Hamas doesn't speak for every Palestinian."
“I don’t believe in killing an innocent anybody,” West later added.
“But you don’t start with those voices without coming to terms with the vicious killings and occupations that’s been going on for 75 years, and then you get a counter-terrorist response to that.”
Phillip asked him to clarify if he referred to the October attack on southern Israel as a “counter-terrorist response."
"Oh absolutely, if you've been terrorized for 75 years, and you responded the same way," West replied.
The was in Gaza is one of the things he has campaigned on, trying to woo Muslim Americans, younger and progressive voters who are dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s handling of the war. He has been calling for a permanent cease-fire.
The presidential hopeful said while Hamas has “responsibility” for causing harm to civilians, it is “not the culprit, it’s the [Israeli military], and they’re terrorizing.”
“The [Israeli military] has engaged in terrorizing the Palestinians, and terrorizing anybody is wrong, but the terrorism that they are doing, it reaches the point of the crime of genocide,” he said. “So, for me, they have to stop.”
Abdullah refused to condemn Hamas’s attack when Phillips inquired about it.
"Dr. Abdullah," Phillip said, "Let me ask you plainly, do you condemn what Hamas did on Oct. 7?"
“I find it really troubling that we are constantly asked to condemn Hamas,” Abdullah said Thursday. “I’m not a member of Hamas. I find it even more troubling that an entire state has been built on the genocide of a people, and I think that we have to start with that first.”
