Hillary Clinton ripped anti-Israel student protesters as ignorant on Middle Eastern affairs, especially involving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, in an interview Thursday
"They don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East, or, frankly, about history in many areas of the world, including in our own country," Clinton told MSNBC.
Clinton pointed to an offer that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made to then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, when he was in office.
"They don't know that … an offer was made to the Palestinians for a state on 96% of the existing territory occupied by the Palestinians," Clinton said, "with 4% of Israel to be given to reach 100% of the amount of territory that was hoped for."
The former secretary of state said that her claims about students were based on multiple conversations with young people over the past few months. Anti-Israel student protests have broken out at schools across the country following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel's subsequent military response.
"This offer was made and if Yasser Arafat had accepted it there would have been a Palestinian state now for about 24 years," Clinton said, calling it a tragedy that no agreement was reached.
President Bill Clinton attempted to broker a peace deal between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David in 2000. The failure of the summit led to finger-pointing from both camps, and the Second Intifada of heightened Palestinian resistance and violence against Israel began later that year, lasting until 2005.
"I’m not trying to put a funny gloss on this," President Clinton said at the time, according to The Washington Post. "They couldn’t get there. That’s the truth."
"I think on balance, it was very much the right thing to do, and it increases the chance of a successful agreement, and it increases the chances of avoiding a disaster," the former president said.
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Hillary Clinton has faced angry students directly, including when she was shouted down by pro-Palestinian protesters during a speech in February at Columbia University.
"Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, you are a war criminal!" a man shouted as the former secretary of state walked onto a lecture hall stage at Columbia University in New York City.
"The people of Libya, the people of Iraq, the people of Syria, the people of Yemen, the people of Palestine as well as the people of America will never forgive you," he continued as Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, took the microphone, asking to have him removed while Clinton waited with a bemused look.
Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
