MSNBC host Chris Hayes has a reputation for being a liberal caricature -- and has even described himself as such -- but he may have outdone himself when he actually suggested that the U.S. give missile defense technology to the bad guys so they can thwart airstrikes by the good guys. At one point, he wondered aloud: "Can we get an Iron Dome for Gaza?"
Hayes made the absurd suggestion on his Tuesday evening All In show as he spoke with Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy about Israel's success in protecting its civilians by shooting down rockets fired from Gaza by the Hamas terrorist group.
Senator Murphy argued that both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas benefit in their internal politics from a longer war, leading Hayes to observe that the Iron Dome system that the U.S. helped Israel build has been successful in minimizing Israeli civilian casualties:
You know, there's been these images I've seen of the Iron Dome system, right? This missile defense system the U.S. partly funded that has been intercepting Hamas rockets into Israel, and those rockets are being fired as a Palestinian human rights lawyer said on this show last night, "indiscriminately civilians, a war crime by definition," and the Iron Dome has worked quite well.... But I look at those images, and I think, "Well, good, that's good. I'm glad that those rockets are being intercepted."
He then suggested the U.S. provide a similar system to Gaza (which has been run by a terrorist group since 2007) for the purpose of preventing Israeli attacks from hitting Gaza's civilians:
And also, there's some part of me that's like, "Can we get an Iron Dome for Gaza?" Can the American taxpayer foot the bill to protect innocent children in Gaza where there's two million people in one of the most densely populated parts of the world so they don't have death rain down upon them?
Senator Murphy pointed out that it would be against U.S. policy to supply anything of a military nature to Gaza as long as it is run by the Hamas terrorist group.
No one bothered to mention that Hamas stores weapons and other military assets amid civilians for the purpose of making it harder for Israel to hit military targets without endangering civilians, and, of course, such a missile defense system assisting Gaza would make it harder for Israel to destroy Hamas's weapons.
This absurd discussion on MSNBC was sponsored in part by Theragun. Click on the link to let them know what you think of such insanity.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
All In with Chris Hayes
May 18, 2021
8:55 p.m. Eastern
SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Right now it benefits Benjamin Netanyahu's politics to continue this assault, and, unfortunately, it also benefits Hamas's politics to continue to lob rockets into Israel. So notwithstanding the pressure that we may be putting on both sides, the forces inside both of those political infrastructures unfortunately push against compromise -- push both sides away from a cease-fire.
CHRIS HAYES: You know, there's been these images I've seen of the Iron Dome system, right? This missile defense system the U.S. partly funded that has been intercepting Hamas rockets into Israel, and those rockets are being fired as a Palestinian human rights lawyer said on this show last night, "indiscriminately civilians, a war crime by definition," and the Iron Dome has worked quite well. Today some got through -- I think two Thai nationals and Israelis died as a result.But I look at those images, and I think, "Well, good, that's good. I'm glad that those rockets are being intercepted." And also, there's some part of me that's like, "Can we get an Iron Dome for Gaza?" Can the American taxpayer foot the bill to protect innocent children in Gaza where there's two million people in one of the most densely populated parts of the world so they don't have death rain down upon them?
SENATOR MURPHY: Yeah, well, not so long as Hamas is running Gaza. Hamas is an organization that seeks the eradication of Israel and organizes the underbelly against it. And I will just say clearly that, you know, so long as Hamas is in charge, there's going to be absolutely no security partnership between the United States and Gaza.
