US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Oct. 19, 2023. Photo: Screenshot

The typically staid US House Foreign Affairs Committee erupted on Thursday over the claim that Palestinians generally support the Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the Gaza Strip next to Israel.

Speaking during a markup hearing on a bill scrutinizing Palestinian textbooks, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the committee, exploded at Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) for saying that “Hamas is the Palestinians.”

“Mr. Mast, are you Ku Klux Klan?” asked Meeks, who is Black. “Because there was Ku Klux Klan that raised White people to hate Black people, and in their books and what they taught every day. And the Ku Klux Klan, today, they’re still here. I get remarks, I get phone calls in my office from people calling me and folks in my office and teaching other kids that I’m less than a human being. I don’t say all White people are Klu Klux Klan. I don’t put them all in one category. All Palestinians don’t belong to Hamas, just like all White people don’t belong to the Ku Klux Klan.”

The heated exchange continued with the two talking over one another. Meeks said Mast was “not worthy of having a conversation with,” while Mast said that Meeks was being “willfully naive.” Mast also noted that he is half-White and half-Mexican.

In his remarks during the hearing, Mast had repeatedly said that Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of 1,400 people in Israel and kidnapping of some 200 hostages required a re-examination of how much popular support Hamas has among the Palestinians.

“People need to move away from this idea of saying that ‘the Palestinians are not Hamas,’ and that ‘Hamas are not the Palestinians,'” Mast said. “This is what they train them up to be. This is their pedigree. This is what they’ve proven to be. And I think you would be hard pressed right now to find the Palestinian that is not in support of the hostages and the killing that took place, as opposed to the ones that stood against it.”

Several pro-Israel Democrats on the committee sought to calm tensions between the members, arguing that concerns about popular support for Hamas were legitimate but also that it was factually untrue to say all Palestinians support the terrorist group.

“There are Palestinians who are helping Mossad, helping Israeli intelligence as we speak,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA). 

Sherman, who sponsored the bill under discussion at the hearing, had the last word.

“But for God’s sake, please vote for the bill. It has nothing to do with what we’re talking about,” he said.

The bill, which would require the US Secretary of State to report on antisemitic content in Palestinian textbooks, eventually passed the committee unanimously, 46-0.