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Dec. 15, 2025 11:26-11:31 - CSPAN
04:48
Washington Journal Open Phones

C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Open Phones examines the deadly Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney (Dec. 2021), where two gunmen killed at least 15, injuring others, as Jewish leaders warned of rising anti-Semitism. President Trump’s White House remarks conflate it with a Brown University shooting (allegedly anti-Semitic) and a Syria ISIS attack, praising U.S.-Syrian cooperation while honoring victims. Senator Chris Murphy links the Brown incident to Sandy Hook’s trauma, noting Providence’s enduring scars 13 years later, underscoring how unchecked violence reshapes communities permanently. [Automatically generated summary]

Participants
Appearances
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chris murphy
sen/d 00:40
d
donald j trump
admin 01:41
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mimi geerges
cspan 01:18
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Speaker Time Text
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mimi geerges
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
Here are the front pages of the national newspapers.
The Wall Street Journal.
Terror attack in Australia targets Jews.
Two gunmen open fire on Hanukkah event in Sydney, killing at least 15.
Here's the New York Times.
Sydney Carnage Targets Jews.
And the Washington Post, gunmen kill 15 at Hanukkah event in Australia.
Father-son acted together.
Jewish leaders say they warned of rising anti-Semitism.
And here's the Washington Times with the headline, anti-Semitic terror strikes down under U.S. Cities Ramp Up Security for Hanukkah celebrations after shooting kills 15.
Well, the president was at a White House Christmas event yesterday and made these comments.
donald j trump
I want to just pay my respects to the people.
Unfortunately, two are no longer with us.
Brown University, nine injured, and two are looking down on us right now from heaven.
And likewise in Australia, as you know, there was a terrible attack, 11 dead, 29 badly wounded.
And that was an anti-Semitic attack, obviously.
And I just want to pay my respects to everybody.
I must say in Syria also, we had an attack in Syria.
And we had three great patriots terminated by bad people.
And not the Syrian government.
It was ISIS.
Syrian government fought by our side.
The new president fought by our side.
But I just want to pay my respects to the families.
We also had three injured, but two of them are already out of the hospital.
One's going to be okay.
unidentified
But we lost three, so it was a rough, it was a rough day.
donald j trump
But to Australia and the Prime Minister, to everybody that we know so well, we get along with so well, we have a great relationship.
That's a terrible situation going on over there.
Think of that.
And Brown University, great school, great, great, really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world.
Things can happen.
So to the nine injured, get well fast.
And to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America.
mimi geerges
And this is about the Brown University.
It says on the Washington Post at Brown shots, then screams in lecture hall.
It says, a teaching assistant held wounded students' hand, quote, put all the pain on me.
Well, about that Brown University shooting, this was Senator Chris Murphy on one of the Sunday shows, CNN's State of the Union, yesterday.
chris murphy
Yeah, I mean, what I think about when one of these mass shootings happens is that community in Sandy Hook.
Those parents, when they see these images on television, are always having to relive the horror of that day.
And of course, it's especially tragic given that we are marking 13 years since that shooting.
What I know is that a community never ever recovers from a shooting like this.
And the trauma and the cost is not just in the lives lost.
Obviously, we are mourning most deeply for those that were killed, those that were wounded, hoping that there are no more fatalities.
But that community in Providence won't recover.
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