Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told The Recount on Monday that he thinks pro-Palestine and pro-Israel students at college campuses can find common ground on ending the Israeli offensive in Gaza — but only after all hostages are released.
“Do you see any common ground between the students here? Do you see any of the demands … that you see being able to be reconciled at all here?” The Recount Senior Politics Producer Steve Morris asked the congressman outside the Columbia University campus.
“At the beginning of this conflict … the protests were really about stopping the violence. And there's a lot of common ground around stopping the violence. Now that they have escalated to what is just outright antisemitism and hate speech. No, there's no common ground with that kind of rhetoric,” Goldman said, referring to accusations that pro-Palestine protests at college campuses, including at Columbia University, have featured antisemitic remarks.
Goldman agreed that Palestinian civilians are suffering, but argued that a ceasefire to end Israel’s offensive on Gaza cannot happen without the hostages coming home.
“There is broad agreement that I and many others want this conflict to stop. I am horrified at seeing how much death and destruction there is in Gaza, to see the humanitarian crisis,” Goldman added. “But if you believe that a ceasefire is the way to stop it, and if you believe that the hostages must be released as part of that — which I dare anyone to say otherwise — then you have to be putting pressure on Hamas in addition to Israel in order to achieve that agreement.”
