Jerusalem embassy opening: White House blames Hamas for death of Palestinian protesters

The White House has squarely blamed Palestinian group Hamas for the killing of 58 protesters by Israeli forces, and stated that the West Asia peace plan the United States is working on will not be impacted either by the violence or the relocated American embassy in Jerusalem that caused it.

“The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters at the daily briefing on Monday, referring to the Palestinian group that the United States and its western allies have designated as a terrorist outfit.

“Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response. And as the secretary of state said, Israel has the right to defend itself,” Shah said, going on to accuse the group of fomenting violence as a “gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt”.

Shah was echoing the sentiments of Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, to some extent. “As we have seen from protests in the last month, and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” Kushner had said at the opening ceremony of the embassy in Jerusalem.

Kushner was part of a large US delegation that also comprised his wife Ivanka Trump, whose visuals at the unveiling ran in split-screen format on most American TV news telecasts, with the other half focused on protesters and tear gas shells arching into their midst from the skies.

Trump, who addressed the event through a recorded video message, never once mentioned the violence in multiple tweets posted on Monday. A tweet from the President even provided information on the television channels airing the event live, one of which – predictably – was Fox News.

Trump’s silence, however, was in marked contrast to condemnation that came from other western capitals and allies. French president Emmanuel Macron “lamented the large number of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza today and over the past few weeks”, his office said in a statement.

“He condemned the violence of Israeli armed forces against demonstrators,” the French presidency added in its statement from Macron, who has emerged as the western world’s emissary to Trump. Macron is expected to personally register his outrage in this regard with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The White House, on the other hand, blamed the killings on Hamas as well as the protesters, and appeared to be in no mood to spread the blame as some in the US media and policy circles said was needed.

The Trump administration also sought to insulate its West Asia peace initiative from the blowback from the embassy relocation. Asked if the White House feared the ongoing protests and killings undermined the plan, Shah said, “No, we don’t. Look, the peace plan will be brought forward at an appropriate time. It can be evaluated on its merits. But the actions today, both the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem and these tragedies in southern Israel, we don’t think will impact the peace plan.”

While the Trump administration has provided no details of the peace plan, it has continued to garner outsized attention due to the involvement of his son-in-law Kushner, who has been designated by the president as his lead guide.