Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said on Newsmax on Thursday that it is "insane" for the United States' European allies to recognize a Palestinian state in the Middle East as the war between Israel and Hamas continues unabated.
"Let me ask a question to you in the audience: Do you think, if you as a people are worried about genocide, you should attack the very enemy who you think is going to commit genocide against you and murder their people and rape their people?" Shaffer told "The Chris Salcedo Show." "That's what Hamas did. That's what the Palestinians have done. So, the idea here is that now, after the fact, the Europeans, and especially the U.K. and Canada, two of our closest allies, are considering recognizing and calling for a two-state solution is not only counterproductive, I would put it into the category of being insane."
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he differs with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's impending recognition of a Palestinian state, telling a joint press conference at Chequers, the prime minister's estate, that he has "a disagreement" with Starmer "on that score."
The British government was reportedly expected to vote on recognizing a Palestinian state shortly after Trump departed from his two-day state visit to the United Kingdom. According to Starmer, the timing of the vote had "nothing to do" with the U.S. president's visit.
The prime minister said that the U.K.'s decision to recognize a Palestinian state was part of an "overall package which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we're in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state."
Shaffer said the U.K.'s decision "is not a rational move" and "benefits those who actually have conducted acts of terror and continue to hold hostages," referring to Palestinian terror group Hamas, which has been at war with Israel since launching an attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.
"So, I think President Trump has every right to call them out and I would go further to even start looking at sanctions against the European countries – if you want to talk about sanctions – if they move forward with actually supporting Hamas over the Israelis," he added.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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