Eric Cantor: Palestinian Culture ‘Filled With Resentment And Hatred’ Is Behind Israeli Conflict

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) blamed the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a violent and resentful culture among Palestinians and the broader Arab world, condemning President Obama’s call for new peace negotiations in a speech to the Faith & Freedom Conference on Friday.

Cantor recounted a story for the audience about a Palestinian woman from Gaza who was treated for injuries in a hospital in the Israeli city of Beer Sheva, only to return later as a would-be suicide bomber in a failed terrorist attack.

“You got to ask what type of culture leads one to do that?” he said. “Sadly it’s a culture filled with resentment and hatred. It is that culture that underlies the Palestinians’ and broader Arab world’s refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist, and this is the root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”

He added: “It’s not about the 1967 lines,” a dig at President Obama’s position that Israel and the Palestinians should base negotiations on 1967 borders, with any changes based on mutually agreed land swaps.

Latest DC
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: