Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) vowed to kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, an architect of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, if former President Trump is elected to a second term in office.
Graham criticized the Biden administration’s approach to dealing with Iran and its proxy groups in the Middle East, suggesting in an interview on Fox News's “Hannity" that a hypothetical second Trump administration would play a more forceful hand in the region.
“When Donald Trump gets in office, these hostages will come home because he will tell the Ayatollah, ‘I'm holding you accountable for the safety and the wellbeing of these people, and if they don't come home, you're going to pay a price,’” Graham said in the interview, without evidence.
“[President] Joe Biden has let Iran get away with murder. He's infused them with money. In their eyes, he is a weak person. Only person weaker than him is [Vice President] Kamala Harris,” he continued. “God bless our friends in Israel. God help our friends in Israel. Donald Trump is on the way.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled an indictment Tuesday against Sinwar and other militants for their role in carrying out the Oct. 7 strike in southern Israel that killed more than 1,100 people, including at least 40 Americans, and sparked the war in the region. About 250 people, including a dozen or so Americans, were taken hostage and held in Gaza by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
“In the early morning hours of Oct. 7 last year, Hamas, led by these defendants, committed its most violent, large scale terrorist attack to date,” Garland said in a video announcement Tuesday. “They perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
The attorney general added that the unsealed charges are “just one part” of the Justice Department’s efforts to “target every aspect of Hamas’s operations.”
“These actions will not be our last. The Justice Department has a long memory," he said. "We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans and those who illegally provide them with material support for the rest of their lives."
Graham, however, scoffed at the indictment, in the Tuesday interview. He suggested Hamas members would not be deterred by the legal action, saying, “We've lost deterrence. Nobody is afraid of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris."
"What is Biden doing? Charging Sinwar with crimes in an American court,” the senator said. “We're not fighting a crime here. We're fighting a war. Sinwar [couldn't] care less about being indicted by Garland.”
“Sinwar, your days are numbered, pal,” he continued. “We're not going to indict you. We're going to kill you.”
The Hill has reached out to the Biden administration for comment, as well as the Trump and Harris campaigns.
