It’s interesting to watch a discussion on ABC’s “The View” about Israel and Hamas.
Surprisingly well-articulated, thoughtful opinions came forth from Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro, Sara Haines and even Joy Behar, as they, in effect, recognized Israel’s right to defend itself and placed all blame on the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered 1,300 people over the weekend.
Then there was what Sunny Hostin said, likening Hamas to the Proud Boys and accusing Israel of war crimes.
Clunk!
And to think the flow of conversation was going so well.
“I look at this from a legal perspective,” Hostin said. “And I think we all know that Hamas has been designated a terror organization just like many other terror organizations have this designation, like the Proud Boys here in the United States.”
What?
Yes, some of the Proud Boys — including the group’s leaders — have been sent to prison for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion.
But terrorists?
Where are the women and children they killed? What hostages have they taken?
OK, maybe you wouldn’t want to invite some of these guys to Sunday dinner at Mom’s house, but to compare them to terrorists is absurd.
Even the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center can muster little more criticism of the Proud Boys than to call them “guilty of seditious conspiracy charges” and “working after Jan. 6 to create violence locally and nationally” and seeking to disrupt the results of the 2020 election.
No designation by the SPLC of the Proud Boys as terrorists.
That despite the SPLC calling people like Moms for Liberty an extremist group for “messages of anti-inclusion and hate” in their efforts to protect their children from sexual perversion and more.
In addition to her connection of the Proud Boys with Hamas, Hostin also turned her guns on Israel.
“There is an international human rights body of law,” she said. “And when you look at that law, part of it is: retaliation against innocent civilians collectively is also terror and is also a war crime.”
Hostin quoted the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, regarding Russia cutting off civilian infrastructure items such as electricity, heat and water to Ukraine as “war crimes,” implying Israel was guilty of the same same thing in Gaza.
Her comments regarding Israel got pushback from two co-hosts.
“Don’t you think Hamas attacking Israel is the reason that they have the problem now?” Behar said.
Navarro added, “What Israel is saying consistently is, ‘If you want your water, if you want your electricity, release our hostages.’ In my view … that’s not an irrational demand.”
Nevertheless, Hostin continued to push her point, saying Israel should “really refrain from committing war crimes.”
HAMAS ‘DAY OF RAGE’ PUTS WORLD ON ALERT: With the terror group Hamas causing cities around the world to ramp up security and Israel warning Palestinians that they have 24 hours to evacuate northern Gaza before they assault, #TheView co-hosts discuss. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/TIHkECnkCe
— The View (@TheView) October 13, 2023
Despite other members of “The View” seeing the reality of Israel’s situation, Hostin pushed her points: The Proud Boys are comparable to Hamas, and Israel is not far behind.
Other hosts of the program had varied perspectives but similar thoughts to one another.
Griffin, who is Arab-American: “For the Palestinian territory to be free, they need to join in ridding themselves of Hamas.”
Navarro, a childhood survivor of civil war in Nicaragua: “The problem is that Hamas doesn’t care about Israeli children or Palestinian children. What they only care about is only one thing — wiping Israel off the face of the earth.”
Haines: “The Gaza lives in horrid conditions, which I concede, but I put that on the shoulders and the backs of Hamas.”
Hamas — real terrorists. The Proud Boys are not even close.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.