Yair Netanyahu claims US pro-Palestine protesters are 'paid agitators'

Yair Netanyahu has claimed that the pro- Palestine protesters demonstrating across America are 'paid agitators' who are 'calling for the destruction of the United States'. Netanyahu, the Florida-based son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggested the protesters are anti-American, alleging that 'real Americans' are 'righteous people' who support democracy.

The 32-year-old, appearing on Newsmax's Sunday Report to discuss the rescue of four hostages from Hamas captivity, argued that Israel and the U.S. have 'shared common Judeo-Christian values' and 'share the same interests'. He also claimed that Americans have demonstrated an 'overwhelming support to Israel', despite the numerous protests that opposing the Gaza war that have continued to sweep across the nation.

His remarks come one days after a huge pro-Palestine rally outside the White House in DC descended into chaos with smoke bombs let off and attendees claiming they were pepper sprayed. Netanyahu, declining to comment on the Biden Administration's commitment to Israel, suggests the wave of protests are not an accurate representation of the American public's response to the war.

'I am not going to comment on the Administration, but regarding the American people, all polls show that there's an overwhelming support to Israel,' he said. 'The American people are a righteous people, they're moral people. They're standing up with the democracy, which is the strongest ally of the United States, with Israel, the shared common Judeo-Christian values and share the same interests and overwhelmingly support for Israel.' He went on to allege that the protesters supporting Palestine are 'paid agitators' and the 'same people from the 2020 riots'.

'They're paid agitators by [George] Soros and by foreign government who is hostile to the United States,' he continued, adding that the pro-Palestine protesters 'burn American flags' and 'destroy American monuments and statues'. He added: 'They're calling for the destruction of the United States while at pro-Israeli protests you have a lot of real Americans who wave the American flag and the Israeli flag and sing the national anthem, and you can tell the stark difference between between the two groups.' 

Netanyahu also commented on the successful rescue mission of four hostages by Israeli special forces on Saturday. Noa Argamani (pictured hugging her father), 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, had been abducted from the Nova music festival during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war. They were freed on Saturday after special forces swooped into central Gaza's crowded Nuseirat refugee camp.

The Israeli military said the extraction team and captives came under heavy gun and grenade fire, which killed one police officer, while Israel's air force launched strikes that reduced nearby buildings to rubble. 'This is a very happy day for all Israelis and all Jews, and I think all decent people around the world,' Netanyahu said of the rescue. 'All Israelis were celebrating yesterday for celebrating life, celebrating the release of innocent hostages.'

He slammed Hamas for the 'torture, the death, and the kidnapping of innocent civilians' and accused Palestinian civilians of supporting these acts, claiming that there were 'cheerful crowds inside Gaza' following the terrorist group's October 7 attack. He said: 'That's the main difference between them and us. We celebrate life and then they celebrate hate and death.' Netanyahu also stated that while there is a 'lot of concern for innocent Palestinian civilians', people 'need to remember' that civilians in Gaza 'democratically voted' Hamas into power in 2006. 'They supported them until now. They didn't rise up against them until now,' he added.

Netanyahu has been in Florida since at least April 2023. He was blasted for staying in Miami while reservists returned home to fight against Hamas. An unprecedented 360,000 reservists were called up last year - many of them dropping everything to fly back to Israel, even abandoning honeymoons. But Netanyahu remained in Miami, to the irritation of some of the troops. 'Yair is enjoying his life at Miami Beach while I'm on the front lines,' one soldier, a volunteer serving on Israel's northern front, told The Times last October. 'It's us who are leaving our work, our families, our kids, to protect our families back home and the country, not the people who are responsible for this situation. Our brothers, our fathers, sons, are all going to the front line, but Yair is still not here. It does not help build trust in the leadership of the country.'

Netanyahu, who studied theater at high school, undertook compulsory military service and worked in the spokesman's unit of IDF, rather than as a combat soldier. Military service is compulsory for the majority of Israelis when they turn 18. Men have to serve 32 months and women 24. After this, most of them can be called up to reserve units until the age of 40, or even older, in case of national emergency, and they fight alongside the regular troops in times of war. Reservists are also used in non-combat roles, meaning that Netanyahu's lack of frontline experience would not automatically exempt him.

Netanyahu's Newsmax interview came after thousands of Gaza war protesters held a 'red line' rally near the White House on Saturday, voicing anger at what they said was President Joe Biden's tolerance of Israel's bloody military campaign against Hamas. Chanting 'From DC to Palestine, we are the red line,' the demonstrators held a long banner scribbled with the names of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, as the fighting enters its ninth month.

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