Jake Tapper asked tough questions of an Israeli official who appeared on his show after news broke that nine members of a CNN producer's family were killed in a bombing in Gaza.
Tapper was visibly displeased with the explanations offered by Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — despite always being a steadfast supporter of Israel.
“When this is over, I’m sure you’ll see an explosion of pent-up rage by the people of Gaza against Hamas for everything that they have brought upon the Gazans.” Regev told Tapper.
The CNN host replied, "That might be wishful thinking, Mark. There are a lot of innocent people being killed by bombs that Israel is raining down upon Gaza, and even if, as I know the IDF believes that Israel has killed 5,000 members of Hamas, that’s thousands of innocent people, including women and children, babies, that Israel has killed. Even if it’s an accident, even if it’s collateral damage, it’s a lot of innocent lives that have been killed by Israel." Israeli Spokesman: "The IDF has done everything possible to safeguard innocent civilians"
Jake Tapper: "It's hard to believe that, especially when one of our producers lost 9 family members"
But lets be clear here: All 16000 civilians killed were members of someone's family. pic.twitter.com/517Dzd4Hwk
— Rami Jarrah (@RamiJarrah) December 5, 2023
Regen claimed that Israel doesn't “want to see a single innocent civilian caught up in the crossfire between the IDF and the Hamas terrorists” and that they are “making a maximum effort.” He pointed to leaflets being dropped in the densely populated civilian areas that have urged them to leave their homes before some of the bombing campaigns.
The Israeli official added that “most Gazans did exit areas of combat, and wisely so.”
Regen also claimed that the IDF has “done everything that is humanly possible to try to safeguard human civilians.”
Tapper was not moved by the claim, as nine members of CNN producer Ibrahim Dahman's family were killed in a strike on Sunday.
Dahman and his young family have evacuated to Egypt, but many relatives remained.It’s very hard to believe that, especially on a day when one of our producers lost nine members of his family. Nine members of his family who are not members of Hamas, not members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not members of any group. Just nine people just trying to live their lives.
Regen blamed the family for not listening to the instructions on the leaflets and abandoning their home.
"First of all, I extend my sorrow to him and my sympathies, but if I saw your report correctly – and please correct me if I say something wrong – that happened in northern Gaza, in Gaza City, where a month ago we already asked all the civilians to leave, and most of them did. There was like one million, 200 thousand people there, there was only a couple of tens of thousands left. And one has to ask, yes? They had ample opportunity to leave. I don’t know what happened. I don’t have the specific circumstances. I know there’s deadly combat going on now in the north still between the IDF and Hamas terrorists, yes? And we don’t want to see anyone caught up in the crossfire. But why didn’t they heed the advice and leave the area?"
Tapper immediately protested Regen's statement.
“You can’t blame them. You can’t blame them,” Tapper said.” There’s fighting in the south now! I’ve been asking this since October 7th. Where are these people supposed to go?”
