New York University student Louis Sarkozy addressed the violent demonstration that took place on Monday — the same day as the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem — on the Israeli-Gaza Strip border, in which at least 60 Palestinian rioters were killed in clashes with Israeli troops. Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said in a televised interview on Wednesday that among the 62 people killed, 50 were members of Hamas.

Louis, a longtime supporter of Israel, said that following Monday’s events on the border, “[t]he mainstream US media, in its coverage of this crisis, was quick to prey on my newly-shaken pro-Israel convictions by issuing headline after headline accusing Israel of war crimes, the unwarranted murder of civilians, and even genocide. The story I was sold was of civilians peacefully protesting and war-crazed Israeli Zionists slaughtering babies.”

“Is this the truth? Is Israel the child-killing, warmongering nation it is made out to be? Absolutely not,” the 21-year-old continued. “One has to admit that no country has wielded its military might as gently in self-defense as has Israel.”

Louis also mentioned al-Bardawil’s comment about Hamas members being among those killed and said,  “To immediately claim that Israel willfully participated in genocide is ridiculous. Not everyone at the border was a peaceful civilian…Hamas once warned Israelis that Hamas ‘loves death more than you love life.’ On Monday, Hamas showed they weren’t bluffing when they said that.”

Louis further discussed the history of Palestinians, including late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and neighboring Arab states seeking the destruction of Israel. He discussed his belief in the two-state solution and noted, “I cannot objectively say that both parties have equally participated in realizing this outcome. Israel has on multiple occasions offered the Palestinian authorities a state of their own, but they refused, constantly and violently.”