The latest senior staffer tapped by President-elect Joe Biden (D.) has defended Palestinian suicide bombings as "the last resort of a desperate people."
Biden on Monday tapped Reema Dodin to serve as the deputy director for the Office of Legislative Affairs. The Jewish News Syndicate reported Tuesday that Dodin gave a presentation on the Second Intifada—a violent Palestinian uprising against the Israeli government in the early 2000s—while a student at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002.
During the talk, Dodin claimed that the Israeli government had left Palestinians hopeless.
"The suicide bombers were the last resort of a desperate people," she said.
Dodin has worked on Capitol Hill for Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) since 2011, currently serving as his deputy chief of staff. According to USA Today, Dodin has volunteered on multiple campaigns, including that of former president Barack Obama.
She will become the first Palestinian-American White House staffer.
Dodin's presentation at Berkeley took place two years into the Second Intifada, which Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat devised in the early 2000s. From 2000 to 2005, Palestinian terrorist attacks killed more than 1,000 Israelis.