By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US said Thursday the majority of protestors in America are not taking orders from Iran after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed they were funded by Tehran during his controversial speech to the US Congress.
“We understand that the vast majority of protesters in America are not taking their orders from Iran and that most of the people who might have received support from Iran wouldn't even know that that's where it was coming from,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller clarified Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s remark when she said earlier this month that Iranian government actors have sought to take advantage of pro-Palestine protests in the US.
Netanyahu accused many of the protestors on Wednesday of choosing to “stand with evil,” and called them “Iran's useful idiots.”
Miller stressed that the US “strongly” supports the right to protest but criticized a group of protestors who burned American flags and carried Hamas banners, calling it “despicable” and “hateful.”
“I know that the vast majority of people who were on the streets of Washington yesterday were patriotic Americans who were making their views known, even if they disagree with the choices that their elected officials make and the choices that we make, and we support their right to do so,” he added.
Miller refused to comment on Netanyahu’s remarks about American protestors.
When asked by Anadolu if the US considers Netanyahu’s remarks an interference in US domestic affairs, he said: “It is certainly not.”
“I wouldn't call it interference in domestic affairs,” he said, adding that the prime minister has the right to come and speak his mind.
“By the same token, we have the right to speak ours and we will do that,” he added.
When pressed to express his reaction to Netanyahu’s speech, he said he would not reply specifically to things the prime minister has said.
“Ultimately, when we have concerns with him, we often take it up with him privately,” he said. “He is free to say what he wants about protests, and we will say what we believe, and I made clear what the United States believes about protests, which is that every American has the right to peacefully exercise their first amendment rights.”
On the international outrage for Netanyahu, who is accused of war crimes and genocide by international courts, but received applause from American lawmakers, Miller said: “I would say that most, if not all, of the countries that we deal with, are quite familiar with the separation of powers in the United States understand that Congress is an independent branch and that this invitation was issued by Congress, not by the president or the executive branch.”