CNN anchor Jake Tapper capped off his show by wishing peace to “all of us” after an unsparing video essay featuring relatives of Hamas victims who nonetheless strive for compassion and peace, and are unafraid to criticize the Israeli government if they see it as necessary.

The situation in Israel was the dominant topic on Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union, during which Tapper demonstrated his willingness to question and criticize the actions of the U.S. and Israel as well as those of Hamas, and anyone else involved in the issue.

He closed the show with a sober commentary that encompassed facets that have become sickeningly familiar since Hamas launched an unprecedented coordinated terrorist assault on Israel last Saturday— the disturbing images of the attacks, the flattened buildings in Gaza, the infuriating expressions of solidarity from Americans featuring iconography depicting paragliding terrorists — as well as unflinching criticism of Netanyahu and the suffering of innocent Palestinians summed up by three CNN guests who suffered losses:

JAKE TAPPER: A warning of some graphic video here as we take stock of this really, really awful week. Eight days ago, terrorists with Hamas invaded Israel and slaughtered hundreds of innocent people, hundreds of seniors at a bus stop. Babies in their cribs. Little kids at home. Young people at a music festival.

It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And none of this was about liberating the innocent people of Gaza from the oppression of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza.

That blockade began after Hamas, which the U.S. and EU classify as a terrorist group after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 and refused to disavow violence and refused to recognize Israel.

The people of Gaza indeed deserve to live without a blockade. They deserve to live in freedom and with democracy and human rights and without fear of their government, which Hamas denies them. If any of this were about freedom and rights, why would Hamas have slaughtered, for example, Danielle Waldman? Danielle was 24. She was at the music festival. Do you know who her dad is?

Her dad is Eyal Waldman. He’s an Israeli tech CEO who had employees in the West Bank and Gaza to improve relations. Here is Eyal talking to my friend and colleague Erin Burnett, literally hours after he found out his beloved Danielle had been killed.

EYAL WALDMAN: They want to talk about peace. I was one of the first persons that have employed Palestinian employees. We have treated our Palestinian employees the same as the Israeli employees hoping for peace. Even today, our hand is reaching out for peace. We want to learn to live together, not to continue killing each other.

JAKE TAPPER: And this is Eyal’s Instagram feed. “Please post this on your social feeds,” he writes. “Every day this man, Netanyahu sits, sits in his chair as prime minister, will cause suffering to all sides,” he writes.

If any of this were about freedom and human rights, why would Hamas have killed Haim Katzman, a peace activist who opposed the Netanyahu government for being too oppressive of Palestinians? I spoke with Haim’s sibling, Noy Katzman.

NOY KATSMAN: The most important for me and I think also for my brother, was that his death won’t be used to kill innocent people. And sadly, my government, our government, my government is using cynically as a people to just. Kill like they promised us it was going to bring. It’s going to bring us like security. But of course, it’s not security because they always tell us that if we’re going to kill enough Palestinians or they’re going to. So. It’s going to be better for us. But of course, it never brings us peace and it never being better lives. It just brings more and more terror and more and more people are killed like my brother.

JAKE TAPPER: One of the most disturbing parts of watching this disaster unfold from the United States is watching students on college campuses here embrace the symbol of the Hamas terrorist paragliders who attacked Israel that day, slaughtering innocent civilians and babies and women and the elderly. This symbol as if it’s some sort of rebellious icon. Here’s one from the University of Washington in Seattle but they’ve cropped up all over college campuses.

I’m wondering what you think when you see your fellow Americans. And again. Protesting for Palestinians Palestinian rights. Great. Do it. Those people deserve human rights. But when you when you see people embracing the symbol of the Hamas murderers who murdered your cousin, what you think.

DANIEL ZAKEN: Well, first off, it’s extremely shocking to see. And and I don’t know if these people are misled or if they actually believe what they’re supporting is helping the Palestinians. But it’s simply not, it’s they’re supporting their own cause. The fight the Hamas is trying to fight isn’t going to get the Palestinians anywhere. They’re just causing more and more suffering in the region. Their goal is to annihilate the state of Israel. They say it. they openly say it and they’re proud of it. And that’s not something that’s going to help bring dignity. The Palestinians, I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to get Hamas out of there and, you know, hopefully build a better future for everyone in the Middle East.

JAKE TAPPER: It’s very difficult to see that better future now. But we can all pray that the humanity of those three we just heard from will ultimately rule the day, not the brutality and barbarism that we saw from Hamas eight days ago and not the the death of innocents that we continue to see in Israel and in Gaza. I wish you shalom. Salaam alaikum. May peace be upon all of us. All of us.

Watch above via CNN’s State of the Union.

The post ‘Shalom — Salaam Alaikum!’ CNN’s Jake Tapper Wishes Peace For ‘All Of Us’ In Unsparing Commentary On Israel-Hamas War first appeared on Mediaite.

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