New U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, Has Said She Would Support a Tougher Stance on Pro-Hamas Protesters
Pam Bondi, whom U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to be his attorney general, said last year that campus protesters who express support for Hamas should face FBI questioning.
Trump named Bondi, who served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, on Thursday, November 24. The nomination came after his first pick, the scandal-plagued former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew following meetings with Republican senators, who apparently made clear that allegations of sexual predation and drug use, which he has denied, would bury him.
Bondi’s confirmation process is expected to face fewer hurdles. On Friday, Jewish media uncovered an interview Bondi had given last year about the spike in anti-Israel protests on American campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which sparked Israel’s multi-front war.
“The thing that really was troubling to me, these students in universities in our country — whether they’re here as Americans or if they’re here on student visas — and they’re out there saying, ‘I support Hamas,’” she said in the Oct. 23, 2023, interview.
“Frankly, they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away when they’re saying, ‘I support Hamas. I am Hamas.’ That’s not saying I support all these poor Palestinians who are trapped in Gaza.” (INN /VFI News)