Michele Bachmann, dean at Regent, calls for removal of all Palestinians from Gaza

A video circulating on social media Wednesday shows Regent University Dean Michele Bachmann calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, which she later retracted in a statement to The Virginian-Pilot.

Bachmann, a former congresswoman who is now head of the Robertson School of Government at Regent, says in the clip: “It’s time that Gaza ends. The 2 million people who live there, they are clever assassins. They need to be removed from that land.

“That land needs to be turned into a national park.”

Bachmann was speaking on “The Charlie Kirk Show” during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, a conservative convention this week in Phoenix.

Bachmann also said that Gaza’s only “industry” was terrorism, and called Palestinians in Gaza “voluntary mercenaries” of Iran, adding that they should be “dropped on the doorstep of Iran.”

Officials at Regent, an evangelical Christian college based in Virginia Beach, did not comment on Bachmann’s remarks. A university spokesperson released a statement Thursday from Bachmann.

“The context of my remarks in question centered on Hamas’ world view and how Hamas has hired themselves out as mercenaries working as terrorists on behalf of Iran,” Bachmann wrote. “I used the term ‘clever assassins’ because that is what some Gazans have become under the force of Hamas.”

About 50% of Gaza’s population are children.

Despite using the term “removed” in the video, Bachmann says she was referring to the voluntary relocation of Gazans to Iran.

“I did not call for the death or forced relocation of any Gazans,” she said.

Bachmann said relocating the population of Gaza to Iran could “lead to much less bloodshed on both sides.”

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group whose work includes fighting Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate, called on the university to condemn Bachmann’s remarks. CAIR Research Director Corey Saylor said Bachmann has a history of dehumanizing Muslims — including supporting Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” — and is now also dehumanizing Palestinians.

“I think it’s important for every public figure to condemn her remarks since she is a former Republican member of the House,” Saylor said.

Saylor also said Bachmann’s remarks, as the dean of a university, are concerning because of the “significant harassment” faced by students who express opposition to “Israeli’s apartheid.”

“Bachmann’s comments can create further hostility targeting the very population Regent University is supposed to be serving, which is students,” he said.

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, which is also based in Washington, D.C., also released a statement, saying that advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people is dangerous.

“This kind of hateful rhetoric poses a threat to not just the lives of Palestinians in Gaza but is the reason for the record increase of hate crimes here in the U.S.,” the group said in an email statement. The statement mentions the 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who was murdered in the suburbs of Chicago by his landlord in an alleged anti-Palestinian hate crime, as well as the three Palestinian college students shot in Burlington, Vermont while they were wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh.

“Regent University has a moral obligation to their students to create safe spaces for them to learn and thrive.”

Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com