Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said the U.S. doesn't "have any evidence of genocide" by Israel in Gaza.
After pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and the U.S. of supporting it, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for his view.
“We don't have any evidence of genocide being created,” Austin declared.
“So that's a no, Israel's not committing genocide in Gaza?” Cotton asked.
“We don't have evidence of that, to my knowledge,” Austin repeated.
“You stand accused by those protesters of greenlighting genocide. Would you like to respond to that accusation?” Cotton said.
“What I would say, Senator Cotton, from the very beginning is that we committed to help assist Israel in defending its territory and its people by providing security assistance,” Austin replied. “And I would remind everybody that what happened on October 7th was absolutely horrible.”
“So you deny the accusation that you green-lit genocide?” Cotton said.“I absolutely deny it,” Austin asserted.
