Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) blamed the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a violent and resentful culture among Palestinians and the broader Arab world, condemning President Obama’s call for new peace negotiations in a speech to the Faith & Freedom Conference on Friday.
Cantor recounted a story for the audience about a Palestinian woman from Gaza who was treated for injuries in a hospital in the Israeli city of Beer Sheva, only to return later as a would-be suicide bomber in a failed terrorist attack.
“You got to ask what type of culture leads one to do that?” he said. “Sadly it’s a culture filled with resentment and hatred. It is that culture that underlies the Palestinians’ and broader Arab world’s refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist, and this is the root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”
He added: “It’s not about the 1967 lines,” a dig at President Obama’s position that Israel and the Palestinians should base negotiations on 1967 borders, with any changes based on mutually agreed land swaps.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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