Hillary Clinton criticized campus protesters Thursday, saying young people “don't know much” about the history of the Middle East.
“Like you, I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of young people over the last few months,” she said Thursday on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” “They have no idea about the history of the Middle East or, frankly, the history of many parts of the world, including our country.”
Clinton went on to say that young people should be reminded that if former Palestinian Authority leader Yassir Arafat accepts the deal brokered by her husband, President Bill Clinton, the Palestinians will already have statehood. I don't know,” he hinted. themselves. “His inability to say yes is one of the great tragedies of history,” she said.
The comments were made in response to a wide-ranging question from host Joe Scarborough about radicalization on college campuses, and Clinton, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, has been criticized on social media. Ta. underestimating students capacity.
Some said they agreed with Clinton, but her characterization of the failure of the Oslo Peace Process (a years-long attempt to negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians that began in 1993 but ultimately failed) Some people said they were. oversimplification.
“What Mr. Clinton said was really disingenuous,” Osama F. Khalil, a Syracuse University history professor and Middle East expert, said in an interview. He cited Arafat's warning to former President Bill Clinton that “neither side was ready” for the 2000 Camp David summit, where negotiations ultimately stalled. Mentioned. He added that it was unfair to place the blame squarely on the Palestinians, noting that other opportunities for resolution had been missed. “Diplomacy is not a one-off mattress sale,” says Professor Khalil.
He said Clinton's comments about the students failed to do justice to the elite educational institutions against which they and many of the students are protesting.
The comments came after students walked out of Mr. Clinton's class in November to protest the school's role in publicly shaming students who signed a statement holding the Israeli government responsible for the war. It is. Last month, others disrupted Clinton's visit to her alma mater, Wellesley College.