Lindsey Graham slams Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for warning Israel faces ‘strategic defeat’ against Hamas because of civilian casualties in Gaza
GOP Senator Lindsey Graham said he has “lost all confidence” in US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he warned Israel faces “strategic defeat” if it fails to contain civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
During a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash, Graham countered that Israel’s “strategic failure” will “allow Hamas to survive.”
He made the comment in response to a question about Secretary of State Austin’s recent statement that the ongoing killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip in an effort to root out Hamas would bring a “tactical victory” at the expense of a “strategic one.”
“He’s so naive. “I just lost all trust in this guy,” Graham said, slightly annoyed.
“Secretary Austin is telling Israel things that cannot be achieved,” he said, asking what strategy the Defense Department chief would propose to implement to root out Hamas.
“If you have a better idea on how to defeat Hamas, share it, but stop criticizing Israel publicly,” he continued.
Senator Lindsey Graham said the Defense Department leader must stop openly criticizing Israel’s military tactics.
“Will a strategic defeat irritate the Palestinians? They are already inflamed. They are taught from birth to hate Jews and kill them.”
Graham called Gaza’s civilian population “radical” and cited the treatment of Israeli hostages by Palestinian citizens as evidence.
On Saturday, during a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Austin said Gaza’s “civilians” are the “center of gravity” in the ongoing fight between the two sides.
“And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you will replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,” he said.
Hamas leaders say the death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached more than 15,000 since October 7, most of whom they say are women and children.
“I think the reason why so many Palestinians are dying is because Hamas wants them to die,” Graham said as Bash pointed to the number of Palestinian deaths.
“No Republican,” he said, “says Israel change their military tactics,” because it is unclear how they will change them and still achieve victory over Hamas.
Late last week, Israel said it would continue its military operation in the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire that lasted several days while some 240 Israeli hostages were exchanged for three times as many Palestinian terrorists.
Ultimately, Hamas violated the ceasefire and decided not to pause the fighting in order to free more hostages in the meantime.
On Saturday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel was sacrificing a strategic victory for a tactical one because of the rising Palestinian death toll.
Hamas officials say more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7.
Some wounded Palestinians can be seen at Al-Shifa Hospital, which houses thousands of wounded and displaced people.
Following a temporary ceasefire that Hamas violated last week, Israel announced the resumption of military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Graham, a longtime foreign policy scholar, said he believes the way to continue to push for the release of the hostages, some of whom are believed to be American citizens, is to put pressure on Iran.
“Hamas doesn’t exist without Iran’s help,” he said.
Israeli forces continued to bomb swaths of Gaza over the weekend, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.
For weeks, Israel had been warning Gazan civilians to move south of the enclave as fighting raged in the north against Hamas, and it continued to be cited as a safer option despite constant Israeli bombing of Khan Younis and other areas.
The IDF now says it is fighting “decisively and stubbornly” in the south, warning displaced civilians to evacuate further south, away from the fighting.
Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said on Sunday: “Yesterday and today we eliminated brigade commanders, company commanders, many operatives, and yesterday morning we began the same process in the south of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
On Sunday evening, Israel also announced that it had killed a key Hamas figure who carried out the October 7 attacks. The statement said an IDF plane shot down and killed Commander Haitham Huwajari, head of Hamas’ Shati Battalion.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attack in which 1,200 Israelis were brutally killed. Iran-backed group vows to destroy Israel