Tuberville warns âpicking sides in the Middle Eastâ is dangerous: âWeâre with Israel,â White House responds
Comments made by Sen. Tommy Tuberville about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas drew an angry response from the White House Wednesday.
Tuberville, speaking to WBRC, said he is “hoping that cooler heads prevail, they don’t go into Palestine.”
“Hopefully they get the hostages back and people start cooperating,” Tuberville said. “But this has been really bad. Israel has the right to go because they they came in and they did some terrible things in their country.
“But the problem is when you start picking sides in the Middle East, it could get really messy very quick,” he said.
The comments drew a sharp response from White House on Tuesday. Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates contrasted Tuberville’s comments with those of President Joe Biden on Tuesday: “We’re with Israel. Let’s make no mistake.”
“Outrageously, at the same time Senator Tuberville is directly sabotaging the American military – including in the Middle East – he is also warning against ‘picking sides,’ even after Israel endured horrific terrorist attacks from Hamas,” Bates said.
At the same time, Bates blasted Tuberville for his ongoing hold of military promotions in the Senate in response to the Pentagon’s abortion policy. Democrats over the weekend continue to say it is time to break the logjam of about 300 promotions bottled up in the Senate as Tuberville protests the Defense Department’s reproductive healthcare policy.
“Senator Tuberville’s selfish stunt is also providing a windfall to our adversaries in the world,” Bates said.
Attempts to reach Tuberville’s office for comment were not immediately successful.
As of Thursday, Israeli jets have continued attacks into Gaza in the sixth day of fighting, according to CNN.
At least 1,354 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, while Israel has reported at least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ attacks over the weekend. Hamas is also holding as many as 150 people hostage in Gaza.