During the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Israel that left over 100 dead, 900 injured, and resulted in several hostages, MSNBC naturally asked on Saturday how this could have happened. Chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell joined the breaking news coverage via phone to claim that a big reason why was that the Israelis and the Saudis would not listen to President Biden.
First, Mitchell went after the Saudis, “That has been such a terrible situation which has really seized the attention of the President-- President Biden here and that’s one of the things he was talking to Netanyahu about at the U.N. just a few weeks ago: that any normalization with Saudi Arabia has to take care of the Palestinians.”
There was no talk of Palestinian intransigence or history which would includes not just Palestinian terror attacks against Israel, but Palestinians siding with Saudi Arabia’s enemies in Iran or Saddam Hussein during Desert Storm.
Instead, Mitchell accused the Saudis of being too eager to make a buck, “There was some concern in some circles that, in fact, the Saudis were so eager for the economic benefits that this normalization would bring to their country.”
Before moving on to Netanyahu, Mitchell got in one more shot at Riyadh, “there’s been some concern that the Saudi leader is not nearly as committed to the Palestinian cause, and to protecting the Palestinians, in any future negotiation as some of predecessors like King Abdullah which made it during, you know, the 1990s, in the early 2000s, made it a cardinal rule that the Palestinians had to be a part of any solution.”
Shifting gears to Israel itself, Mitchell recalled, “Palestinians, as you know, have not had strong leadership. There has been no negotiation since 2014—real negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The security relationship has not been good and there has been the most aggressive encroachment into the West Bank by this far-right coalition government of any that we’ve seen. That was a grave concern to President Biden.”
Of course, the “aggressive encroachments” happen precisely because Palestinian leadership refuses to do anything about the terrorist camps.
Mitchell then proceeded to go after an issue that has nothing to do the Palestinians, “That and the so-called judicial reform, which is anything but reform according to, probably, 50 percent of Israelis, including many in the military and many in the intelligence community. This mobilization that has been going on for a year and that has been reaching critical points, not completely observed by the outside world, frankly.”
As uncomfortable as it may be, asking how Israeli intelligence suffered its biggest failure since 1973 is wholly appropriate, but blaming it on some unrelated domestic controversy is totally inappropriate. A much more reasonable assessment would be that Israeli intelligence suffered from a failure of imagination.
Moving on, Mitchell brought the conversation back to where the media usually ends up, “all of these irritants in the past and their relationships were smoothed over or they attempting to smooth them over at the U.N. meeting, but the president did say that the Palestinians had to be somehow protected and there has to be a Palestinian state, but at this point, it is all out war.”
There’s not going to be a Palestinian state so longer as its so-called leaders engage in war against Israel and by blaming the situation on the “far-right” Israeli government or the Saudis, the media encourages such wars by feeding Palestinian delusions, whether they intend to or not.
Here is a transcript for the October 7 show:
MSNBC Breaking News
10/7/2023
9:19 AM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: That has been such a terrible situation which has really seized the attention of the President-- President Biden here and that’s one of the things he was talking to Netanyahu about at the U.N. just a few weeks ago: that any normalization with Saudi Arabia has to take care of the Palestinians. There was some concern in some circles that, in fact, the Saudis were so eager for the economic benefits that this normalization would bring to their country, to Israel, you know that they have frequent contacts behind the scenes that are not acknowledge by either country—
ALI VELSHI: Yeah.
MITCHELL: -- but full diplomatic relationship would be very, very difficult and there’s been some concern that the Saudi leader is not nearly as committed to the Palestinian cause, and to protecting the Palestinians, in any future negotiation as some of predecessors like King Abdullah which made it during, you know, the 1990s, in the early 2000s, made it a cardinal rule that the Palestinians had to be a part of any solution.
Palestinians, as you know, have not had strong leadership. There has been no negotiation since 2014—real negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The security relationship has not been good and there has been the most aggressive encroachment into the West Bank by this far-right coalition government of any that we’ve seen. That was a grave concern to President Biden. That and the so-called judicial reform, which is anything but reform according to, probably, 50 percent of Israelis, including many in the military and many in the intelligence community. This mobilization that has been going on for a year and that has been reaching critical points, not completely observed by the outside world, frankly.
That has been a great concern to the White House. So, for that reason Netanyahu does not-- still has not gotten a meeting in Washington, which he very much wanted. He wanted an Oval Office meeting when he came here for the U.N., before that, in fact and instead was just given a bilateral meeting at the U.N. like a lot of leaders. So, President Biden has expressed in many ways, disapproval, verbally and, you know, in written statements on the eve of a critical vote on that judicial overtaking by the Israeli government, a critical vote in the Knesset.
The White House put out a statement, very unusual, all of these irritants in the past and their relationships were smoothed over or they attempting to smooth them over at the U.N. meeting, but the president did say that the Palestinians had to be somehow protected and there—
VELSHI: Yeah.
MITCHELL: has to be a Palestinian state, but at this point, it is all out war.
VELSHI: Yeah.
MITCHELL: As Netanyahu said in your experience and mine and Ayman’s, is that the Israeli people will rally behind the president—
VELSHI: Yes.
MITCHELL: behind their prime minister.
