As of: January 30, 2024, 6:31 p.m
By: Denise Dörries
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The former speaker of the House of Representatives is criticized.
Pelosi said some pro-Palestinian protesters had ties to Russia.
Washington DC – Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, is receiving a lot of criticism.
The reason: She was critical of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and claimed that they had a connection to Russia.
In the US television channel
CNN
's “State of the Union” program , the 83-year-old said: “We have to think about what we are doing and we have to try to stop the suffering in Gaza […] but that they have a ceasefire demand is the message from Mr. Putin.”
“Make no mistake, this is directly related to what he would like to see,” Pelosi added to her statement.
The US politician made the statements after pro-Palestinian demonstrators called for a ceasefire in the war in Israel.
With this demand, demonstrators had repeatedly interrupted an event in Seattle by US President Joe Biden and Pelosi.
Nancy Pelosi is under fire after the former House Speaker claimed some pro-Palestinian protesters had ties to Russia.
© IMAGO/William Bretzger-Delaware News Journal
Criticism for Pelosi: “We are deeply disturbed by the former speaker’s comments”
Pelosi also told
CNN
that she believes some of the protest participants were “spontaneous, organic and sincere,” while she accuses others of having a connection to Russia.
“And I say that after looking at this for a long time, as you know.” She called for some financing to be investigated and even plans to involve the FBI.
However, the California Democrat's statements were quickly debunked;
The first contradiction was not long in coming.
Council on American-Islamic Relations Chairman Nihad Awad said in a statement: “We are deeply disturbed by the comments made by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Representative Pelosi’s claim that some of the Americans protesting for a ceasefire in Gaza are colluding with Vladimir Putin sounds delusional, and her call for the FBI to investigate these protesters without evidence is downright authoritarian.”
“Your comments once again demonstrate the negative impact of decades of dehumanization of the Palestinian people by those who support Israeli apartheid,” the statement continued.
“Instead of baselessly denigrating these Americans as Russian collaborators, the former House Speaker and other political leaders should respect the will of the American people by calling for an end to the Netanyahu government’s genocidal war against the people of Gaza.”
Russia is interfering in US elections to sow discord
A spokesman for Pelosi told
CNN
: “Speaker Pelosi has always supported and defended the right of all Americans to express their views through peaceful protest.” However, he went on to admit that the politician was well aware that “foreign opponents interfere in American politics to sow division and influence our elections.”
In any case, Pelosi's claims cannot be substantiated because there is no evidence of collaboration between American demonstrators and Russia.
What is known, however, is that Russia and Russian organizations interfere in US political affairs.
The supposed goal of the interference: sow discord and influence election results.
Such a scenario was already described by US intelligence agencies in a published report in 2021.
In this, the secret services referred to a massive disinformation offensive and made it clear how the Russian government had interfered in the 2020 US elections with an influence campaign.
(Denise Dörries)