White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to condemn comments from radical left U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) calling for “balance” when asked about militants with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas raping women.
In an appearance on CNN, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus was asked about the widespread sexual violence against Israeli women and she immediately pivoted to supposed war crimes committed by Israel, before adding: “I think that rape is horrific, sexual assault is horrific, I think it happens in war situations. However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians — 15,000 Palestinians have been killed.” (The number of deaths cited essentially being Hamas talking points.)
Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked KJP during the White House daily press briefing Monday if that was “an appropriate comment.”
“I can only speak for the president — that’s who I can speak for,” Jean-Pierre replied. “We’ve been clear that what Hamas did is absolutely reprehensible, full stop. We’re going to continue to be clear about that.”
Karine Jean-Pierre refuses to condemn Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal for calling “to be balanced” in criticism of Hamas using rape as a weapon of war against innocent civilians pic.twitter.com/3Do0kYEN2Q
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 4, 2023
“We think rape and the use of rape — being used as a weapon — that is also reprehensible and that’s full stop and I’ll just leave it there,” she continued. “That’s speaking for the president of the United States and I think I’ve been very clear on that.”
When Heinrich pressed for any reaction to Jayapal, she dodged the question entirely.
“I just commented on it. I just laid out what we believe is unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from X:
“Let me be clear about being clear..did I say we’re clear?…so let me be clear about that and the President is clear, this whole administration has been clear about the clarity, of the clearness that we spoke of on the subject of being clear. Thank you. I hope I’ve been clear. “
— AnHonest_ConMan (@AnhonestR) December 4, 2023
No group sticks together tighter than the Dems.
— bird cheat (@birdcheat) December 4, 2023
Her bias is so obvious on all subjects that expose their agenda. Shameful
— pragmatikos (@kemz71) December 5, 2023
She’s not much of a history scholar I take it. Their is a little thing called the Geneva Convention. It led to something that, I don’t know, that freaking condems war atrocities and established rules of conduct during war time.
— Karen Goth (@WaterOtter61) December 5, 2023
Full stop… full stop.. when has the president ever used those words? More importantly, what does it even mean??? Bunch of gibberish
— Enik (@Racerx51224687) December 5, 2023
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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