Hagel in 2003: Israel keeps “Palestinians caged up like animals”

Defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel protested what he called the “completely distorted” record on Israel that his critics are promoting in an interview earlier this month with his hometown newspaper.

The former Nebraska senator said an accurate assessment would show “unequivocal, total support for Israel.”

Yet a decade earlier, the same newspaper–the Lincoln Journal Star–quoted Hagel making a startling accusation against Israel in a Jan. 12, 2003 article. Israel, Hagel declared, was “keep[ing] Palestinians caged up like animals.”