WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined “The Evening Edit” with Elizabeth MacDonald on Fox Business Network to discuss reports of Hamas terrorists agreeing to an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire agreement with Israel, and Israel’s warning of an attack in Rafah.
Excerpts from the interview can be found below, and the full interview can be watched on Rumble or YouTube.
MacDONALD: “Joining us now—Senator Tommy Tuberville from Senate Armed Services. Your reaction to that report, sir?”
TUBERVILLE: “Well, [it’s] Fantasyland, Liz. Hamas is making up everything there. They know that IDF is getting real close to Rafah. They are panicking. They should make a deal. But the only deal that should be made would be release the hostages and surrender. Let’s get this thing over with. They can’t win, but it is going to get worse and worse as we go along, but they are making this fantasy thing up to where they can get this over with on their terms. It’s not going to happen.”
MacDONALD: “Yes, so Hamas terrorists accepted a ceasefire proposal, but it’s from Egypt and Qatar. It does not talk about releasing the 132 hostages. Israel has not seen the deal. That’s not how negotiations work. This is about Hamas trying to win a PR—public relations— war. Israel reportedly not taking this seriously.”
TUBERVILLE: “Obviously, they’re not taking it seriously and they shouldn’t take it seriously. They know what needs to be done. They’ve worked with Hamas several times on a ceasefire. They won’t accept that.
They are trying to hold back. I don’t know what’s going on with the hostages. That should be what should be talked about right now, most and foremost, but you know, things are getting tight around Rafah. It is getting ready to happen. They’re afraid it’s going to happen, and it should happen if they don’t release the hostages.
We need to get people out. People forget—there’s American hostages in this group. So, we need to be standing beside Israel not playing both sides of the fence like this administration has done for the last four, five, six months.”
MacDONALD: “So, you know, Israel’s Netanyahu reportedly told President Biden Israel is moving into Rafah with or without support—that it’s the last stronghold of Hamas, reportedly the last four battalions of Hamas terrorists there.
You know, if they don’t wipe them out, they’ll simply retake Gaza and attack Israel again. But if these reports [are] true, President Biden threatened to stop a weapons shipment for Israel after he and Congress signed off on $15 billion in aid for Israel.”
TUBERVILLE: “Sure, he is. He is riding the fence. He’s trying to play both sides. We can see what’s going on in our country with all the protests. But this is Israel’s war. This is Israel versus Hamas. This has nothing to do with United States.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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