MSNBC’s Joy Reid welcomed The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf to the Thursday edition of The ReidOut for a profoundly unserious discussion on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for new Israeli elections under the guise that Netanyahu is no longer fit to lead the country. While, Netanyahu has never interfered in American elections like Schumer did, the hacktastic duo still blamed him for politicizing the U.S.-Israel alliance.
During the conversation, Reid naturally had to set the stage by repeating Hamas propaganda, “And this is the largest number of children killed in all of the wars that are taking place across the globe combined at this point. I mean, the number of dead Palestinian children is so breathtaking, the U.N. can barely believe it.”
She also claimed, “But the other thing I think that's happened is you—it feels to me, you can tell me if I'm wrong, is that Benjamin Netanyahu has done more than any other Israeli prime minister to politicize Israel and politicize support for Israel, not that either—both parties, Democrats and Republicans, don't support Israel, but he's made it very political.”
Reid’s evidence for this claim was extremely underwhelming. On Schumer’s speech, she recalled, “You saw Republicans come out and say one thing and Democrats come out and say another. He's kind of made his government sort of an adjunct of the Republican Party, no?”
Republicans and Democrats having different takes is proof Netanyahu is at fault? That makes no sense. A neutral take would be that the two parties simply disagree. However, that would still be a false equivalence. Schumer didn’t just wrongly accuse Netanyahu of putting his personal interests before Israel's thereby ignoring Israel's unity on the current war, he also stuck his nose in Israel’s domestic business by calling for new elections.
As many Republicans pointed out, Democrats routinely freak out about foreign interference in our politics, yet have no problem interfering in another country’s democracy, but for Rothkopf it is actually Republicans who are the hypocrites:
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, when Mitch McConnell used the words grotesque hypocrisy, which is something he knows about, he was talking about a situation today that is exactly the same as what Netanyahu started to do nine years ago. Everybody must remember, Netanyahu came to the U.S., addressed the Congress, did so around the Obama Administration, threw in with Trump, essentially made himself a MAGA surrogate before Trump and during the Trump Administration, and now McConnell is upset that people are politicizing this. This is nonsense. And his already decaying credibility was undermined further by saying that.
There is so much fake news in there. First, Netanyahu addressed Congress about a specific policy that has had disastrous consequences. Second, Netanyahu did not endorse Trump or anything like it. In 2016, he met with both Trump and Hillary Clinton like a responsible adult, and, in 2020, sidestepped opportunities to trash Joe Biden.
The Israeli equivalent of Schumer’s Democratic Party hasn’t held power in almost a quarter century. Electorally, it is pretty much a non-factor. Reid and Schumer could ask themselves why that is, but why would they do that when they need to win Michigan and want to feel good about themselves while being thousands of miles away from the dangers Israelis of all political stripes face every day?
Here is a transcript for the March 14 show:
MSNBC The ReidOut
3/14/2024
7:44 PM ET
JOY REID: And this is the largest number of children killed in all of the wars that are taking place across the globe combined at this point. I mean, the number of dead Palestinian children is so breathtaking, the U.N. can barely believe it. But the other thing I think that's happened is you— it feels to me, you can tell me if I'm wrong, is that Benjamin Netanyahu has done more than any other Israeli prime minister to politicize Israel and politicize support for Israel, not that either— both parties, Democrats and Republicans, don't support Israel, but he's made it very political. You saw Republicans come out and say one thing and Democrats come out and say another. He's kind of made his government sort of an adjunct of the Republican Party, no?
DAVID ROTHKOPF: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, when Mitch McConnell used the words grotesque hypocrisy, which is something he knows about, he was talking about a situation today that is exactly the same as what Netanyahu started to do nine years ago. Everybody must remember, Netanyahu came to the U.S., addressed the Congress, did so around the Obama Administration, threw in with Trump, essentially made himself a MAGA surrogate before Trump and during the Trump Administration, and now McConnell is upset that people are politicizing this. This is nonsense. And his already decaying credibility was undermined further by saying that.
