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Supporters of a Gaza ceasefire condemned comments made by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “downright authoritarian” after the California Democrat suggested, without offering evidence, that pro-Palestinian activists They could have ties to Russia and the president. Vladimir Putin.
In an interview on Sunday, Pelosi asked the FBI to investigate protesters involved in the progressive movement pressuring the Biden administration to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
“For them, calling for a ceasefire is Mr. Putin’s message,” Pelosi said during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “Make no mistake, this is directly related to what he would like to see. The same goes for Ukraine. This is Putin’s message. I think some of these protesters are spontaneous, organic and sincere. Some, I think, are related to Russia.”
Asked if she thought the activists were “Russian plants,” Pelosi responded: “Seeds or plants. I think some funding should be investigated. And I want to ask the FBI to investigate that.”
The interview sparked a furious reaction from anti-war activists and protesters, who pointed to polls showing a strong proportion of democrats They support calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and agree with the claim that Israel is committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the comments a “baseless smear” that “echoes a time in our nation when opponents of the Vietnam War were accused of being communist sympathizers and subjected to harassment by the FBI.”
“His comments show once again the negative impact of decades of dehumanization of the Palestinian people by those who support Israeli apartheid,” Awad said in a statement. “Instead of baselessly smearing these Americans as Russian collaborators, former House Speaker Pelosi and other political leaders should respect the will of the American people and call for an end to the Netanyahu government’s genocidal war against the people. of Gaza.”
Since the outbreak of war in October, Joe Biden has faced a groundswell of opposition to his policy in Gaza. Among the many organizations involved in the ceasefire movement are prominent Jewish, progressive and anti-war groups. In recent weeks, activists have disrupted major campaign events, including a speech on reproductive rights in Virginia, where he was interrupted at least a dozen times.
Biden has resisted calls to back an immediate ceasefire, even as his administration works to ensure a temporary pause in the bloodshed in exchange for the release of nearly 100 hostages taken in the October 7 attack on Israel. The rising Palestinian death toll, now estimated to have surpassed 26,000, and widespread suffering in Gaza, have angered key sectors of his Democratic base.
Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, who supports a ceasefire and has been closely monitoring the U.S. response to the war in Gaza, said Pelosi’s comments amounted to “unacceptable disinformation spread by the Democratic Party’s most powerful leaders.” “.
“Democrats are most successful when they represent a broad coalition, but the party leadership has sabotaged itself by vigorously attacking the majority of its own Democratic voters who oppose the war,” he said.
Pelosi, who led House Democrats for 20 years and served twice as House speaker, is apparently the first and highest profile US official to publicly They accuse Russia of supporting pro-Palestinian activists in an effort to exacerbate divisions among Democrats over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Pelosi made the comments in response to a question about whether opposition to Biden’s handling of the conflict could hurt the president’s re-election prospects in November.
In a statement following Pelosi’s appearance on CNN, a spokesperson emphasized that the former president believes the “focus” must remain on strategies to end the suffering of the people of Gaza and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
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The spokesperson continued: “Speaker Pelosi has always supported and defended the right of all Americans to make their opinions known through peaceful protests. Informed by three decades on the House Intelligence Committee, Speaker Pelosi is well aware of how foreign adversaries meddle in American politics to sow division and impact our elections, and she wants to see more investigations before the US election. 2024.”
Brianna Wu, who created a pact to support progressive candidates called Rebellion, wrote on social media that Pelosi’s comments were naïve but related to Russia’s recent efforts to interfere in a US election.
“Information warfare does not invent new divisions. It finds existing divisions and exacerbates them,” Wu wrote. “Since Putin wants Trump to win, he will obviously fund efforts to divide the Democratic Party. Israel/Palestine is proving to be very effective in this.”
Michigan Democrats have warned the White House that dissatisfaction with Biden’s approach to the Israel-Gaza War may jeopardize his support among Arab Americans in a swing state that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
Abdullah Hammoud, the Democratic mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a sizable Arab-American population that helped seal Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, shared the results of a November poll that showed broad support for a halt to the permanent fire and a reduction in violence. in Gaza.
“So based on Nancy Pelosi’s comments, 76% of Democrats/49% of Republicans/61% of Americans are potentially paid agents of Russia who are pushing Putin’s message of calling for a ceasefire?” ?” he wrote.
Hammoud, who last week he joined a group of Arab and Muslim leaders in refusing to meet with Biden’s re-election campaign manager to discuss the administration’s approach to the war, he concluded: “The leadership of the Democratic Party is in disarray.”
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