According to CNN, Rula Jebreal is a “journalist and foreign policy analyst,” but as a Friday appearance on CNN This Morning proved, such analysis should not be taken too seriously as she compared Israel to Russia.
After playing a clip of President Joe Biden’s Thursday address where he claimed people around the world look the U.S. as a source of hope, host Poppy Harlow asked, “What is your read on how Palestinians, still trapped inside Gaza, feel when they hear those remarks? Do they feel that support from the United States?”
Jebreal replied, “No. But also, Palestinians in the West Bank and in Jerusalem, and the overwhelming majority of the Arab World understand that President Biden -- and that's how they feel and talking to them after last night, they think this was meant for a domestic audience, for the Americans.”
After lamenting “unconditional aid to Israel,” Jebreal continued to attack Biden from the left, “Yes, he cited the two-state solution but he is unwilling to do anything to pressure Israel to stop the free settlement constructions or to rein in some of these very violent settlers that are in the West Bank where Hamas doesn't exist.”
Moving on, Jebreal also claimed, “So, this is what they have been telling me -- that Palestinians don't want charity; they want dignity. They want freedom. They want what the president said about freedom: self-determination. And the president cannot back the fight of Ukrainians to liberate themselves from a military dictatorship while, in the same time, enable the occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank, in Jerusalem while Israel carry what they are carrying in.”
Meanwhile, MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan went even deeper into the realm of the absurd on Thursday when he told Chris Hayes, “It’s interesting that he did a whole thing about Hamas and Russia and linking them together as a slight axis of evil, putting them together. Because they’ve really got little in common just when you look at them because a lot of the rest of the world, if you’re going to compare Ukraine and Israel, Biden and a lot of people in America may see Ukraine and Israel, a lot of people around the world see Russia and Israel the same”
It’s not just “a lot of people in America,” it is Ukrainians themselves. A January poll says that 60 percent of Ukrainians feel solidarity with Israel when it is attacked, while only one percent feel solidarity with Palestinians. President Zelensky himself remarked in December 2021, with Russian troops amassing at his border, “We know what it’s like not to have an own state” and “We know what it means to defend one’s own state and land with weapons in hand… Israel is often an example for Ukraine.”
As for Jebreal, she added, “So if those are only words in terms of two-state solution, but not backed by real deeds, this will go nowhere, and this will be seen as America's war. Not only Israeli war, but this is an American war.”
Vladimir Putin views Ukraine’s existence as a mistake and Ukraine’s current war can easily be seen as a delayed version of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. If Russia, Hamas, and others violently opposed to Israel were to lay down their arms, there would peace. If Israel and Ukraine were to lay down their weapons, there would be not an Israel or Ukraine.
Here is a transcript for the October 20 show:
CNN This Morning
10/20/2023
7:51 AM ET
POPPY HARLOW: What is your read on how Palestinians, still trapped inside Gaza, feel when they hear those remarks? Do they feel that support from the United States?
RULA JEBREAL: No. But also, Palestinians in the West Bank and in Jerusalem, and the overwhelming majority of the Arab World understand that President Biden -- and that's how they feel and talking to them after last night, they think this was meant for a domestic audience, for the Americans.
And they see the unconditional aid to Israel. Yes, he cited the two-state solution but he is unwilling to do anything to pressure Israel to stop the free settlement constructions or to rein in some of these very violent settlers that are in the West Bank where Hamas doesn't exist.
So, this is what they have been telling me -- that Palestinians don't want charity; they want dignity. They want freedom. They want what the president said about freedom: self-determination.
And the president cannot back the fight of Ukrainians to liberate themselves from a military dictatorship while, in the same time, enable the occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank, in Jerusalem while Israel carry what they are carrying in.
So if those are only words in terms of two-state solution, but not backed by real deeds, this will go nowhere, and this will be seen as America's war. Not only Israeli war, but this is an American war.
