![CNN's Phil Mattingly pushed back against Palestinian Legislator Dr. Mustafa Barghouti after he tried to blame Israel for allegedly targeting a Gaza hospital. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-18-at-11.01.54-AM-e1697641381255.png "CNN's Phil Mattingly pushed back against Palestinian Legislator Dr. Mustafa Barghouti after he tried to blame Israel for allegedly targeting a Gaza hospital. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN’s Phil Mattingly pushed back against Palestinian legislator Dr. Mustafa Barghouti after he tried to blame Israel for the explosion at a Gaza hospital.
Hundreds of people were reportedly killed Tuesday night following an explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. No perpetrator has been identified, and there are conflicting reports about who is responsible. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson denied responsibility and alleged a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket misfired and struck the hospital. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has blamed the explosion on an Israeli airstrike.
President Joe Biden, who traveled to Israel on Tuesday night, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it appears “the other team” is responsible for the bombing.
Barghouti said he did not “believe any of this nonsense” and argued Israel has already fired rockets into Gaza that have hit health facilities, homes, ambulances and other structures.
Mattingly then interjected and asked Barghouti for evidence to support his claim Israel is responsible.
“Sir, just to — I understand — I understand your point. I understand what you’re saying,” Mattingly said. “What you’re saying are all contextual pieces. What the IDF is laying out and what the president was responding to today was specific signals of intelligence, specific tracking of rockets, they have documented what they have. I guess my question to you would be, what have you seen that explicitly shows that it was an airstrike, beyond … what’s happened around it?”
“Well, of course I wasn’t there, but I have the people, my people are there, and they told me that the type of airstrike they’ve seen on this hospital is exactly the same airstrike they’ve seen in other places,” Barghouti said. “One more fact, in addition to what I said before, one more fact is the type of explosion that happened after the Israeli airstrike is a type that no Palestinian rocket could ever have. This wide, huge kind of explosion, killing 500 people in one minute, this never happened by Palestinian rockets and any — what we ask for, okay, let’s have an international, independent commission investigating that.” (RELATED: Corporate Media Mass Stealth-Edits Headlines After Blindly Parroting Hamas To Blame Israel For Hospital Bombing)
“To that point, do you think an international and independent commission would be allowed to investigate? Would that be something that international investigators would be allowed on the ground to investigate?” Mattingly asked.
“Israel would never allow an international investigation, like they never allowed an investigation … because you can’t have the criminal investigate himself or herself, and the big question here, why Mr. Biden does not call for a cease-fire? How many more Palestinians should be killed before we get ceasefire. 3,200 Palestinians have been killed so far. Three war crimes are being committed in front of the world. Ethnic cleansing, genocide —” Barghouti said before Mattingly interjected.
Barghouti went on to criticize Biden for not forcefully calling for a ceasefire and not condemning Israel for what he says are lies.