Hillary Clinton on Thursday criticized campus protesters, saying younger individuals “don’t know very a lot” in regards to the historical past of the Center East.
“I’ve had many conversations, as you might have had, with quite a lot of younger individuals during the last many months now,” she stated on the MSNBC present “Morning Joe” on Thursday. “They don’t know very a lot in any respect in regards to the historical past of the Center East, or frankly about historical past, in lots of areas of the world, together with in our personal nation.”
Ms. Clinton then went on to suggest that younger individuals “don’t know” that had Yasir Arafat, the previous chief of the Palestinian Authority, accepted a deal brokered by her husband, President Invoice Clinton, the Palestinians would have already got a state of their very own. “It’s one of many nice tragedies of historical past that he was unable to say sure,” she stated.
The feedback, made in response to a sprawling query about radicalization on college campuses from the host, Joe Scarborough, have been criticized on social media by those that stated that Ms. Clinton, a professor of worldwide and public affairs at Columbia College, was underestimating college students’ capability.
Whereas some stated they agreed with Ms. Clinton, others described her characterization of the failure of the Oslo peace course of — a yearslong try to barter peace between Israel and Palestine that started in 1993 however in the end failed — as an oversimplification.
“For Clinton to say that is actually disingenuous,” Osamah F. Khalil, a professor of historical past and Center East professional at Syracuse College, stated in an interview. He famous that within the lead-up to the summit at Camp David in 2000, the place negotiations in the end faltered, Mr. Arafat had warned former president Invoice Clinton that “the 2 sides weren’t prepared.” To put blame squarely on the Palestinians was unfair, he added, noting that there had been different missed alternatives for an answer. “Diplomacy isn’t a one-time mattress sale,” Prof. Khalil stated.
Ms. Clinton’s feedback in regards to the college students failed to provide them, or the elite establishments at which many are protesting, due credit score, he stated.
The feedback come after college students walked out of Ms. Clinton’s class in November to protest what they perceived as the varsity’s position in publicly shaming college students who had signed an announcement saying the Israeli authorities bore accountability for the conflict. Final month, others disrupted Ms. Clinton’s go to to her alma mater, Wellesley Faculty.
