Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Hamas was “not disarming” as required by their peace plan with Israel.
Partial transcript as follows:
KRISTEN WELKER: Thank you so much for joining me. There is a lot to get to this morning. I do want to start on the Middle East because you’re there in Tel Aviv. You just met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We have video of some of that. Our viewers are seeing this as we speak. It’s been two months since President Trump brokered that peace plan for Gaza, and Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel could move to phase two of this peace plan as soon as the end of this month. But as you know, Senator, that involves the disarmament of Hamas and transferring control of Gaza to an international security force. Do you believe Hamas is ready to disarm?
GRAHAM: Absolutely not. One of the reasons I came here is to answer that question. The Trump people, administration, deserves a lot of credit for getting a ceasefire. It’s been 90 days now. What did I learn on this trip? That Hamas is not disarming. They’re rearming. Hamas is not abandoning power. They’re consolidating power. That’s what the military intelligence people in Israel tell me. That’s what the IDF told me. That’s what our own people told me. So I am all for a stabilizing force. I’m all for board of peace. But you can’t have a board of peace. You can’t have a stabilizing force in Gaza until Hamas is disarmed. They’re not being disarmed. There’s nobody coming over the horizon to disarm them. So I would urge President Trump to meet with Prime Minister Bibi next week and come up with a plan. Put Hamas on a time clock. If they don’t turn over their weapons and stop rearming at a date certain, I would unleash Israel on them. That’s what I would do.
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