In a contentious interview with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer on Friday, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell fretted over Israeli police killing knife-wielding Palestinian terrorists: “What about the possibility of excessive force?”
Dermer responded: “Andrea, if someone was coming at you with a knife, would you want the police officer to take out a knife and to try to stop him or would you want that police officer to shoot that person before he would attack you?” Mitchell proclaimed: “Not shoot to kill.”
She then declared that Israel was “...losing the war on social media because these videos [of the police shootings] – sometimes taken out of context, I'll grant you – are going viral throughout the world.” Mitchell warned: “You are potentially inciting more violence because of these incidents and the way they are being perceived.”
Dermer shot back: “We are losing the war of lies. We are winning the war of truth.”
On Thursday, correspondent Peter Alexander filled in for Mitchell on her MSNBC show and also grilled Dermer, demanding Israel find “middle ground” with the terrorist killers.
Minutes after Mitchell played the clip of her interview with Dermer on Friday, veteran NBC war correspondent Martin Fletcher observed:
There’s only a growth of frustration among the Palestinians and a growth of Israeli frustration with the world because Israel believes it's doing its best to control this surge of violence in as fair a way as possible. And as you mentioned earlier, you know, this is on social media. Israel is losing the perception war in social media, even though it is trying to keep the number of casualties down. That is always the case. Israel's story is very hard to tell, whereas the Palestinian story is much easier to tell.
Here is are excerpts of the October 16 Andrea Mitchell Reports:
12:26 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: At this hour at the U.N., the Security Council is meeting over the surge of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, although they have yet to do anything on this issue for decades. Overnight hundreds of Palestinians entered the Jewish holy site containing Joseph's tomb, setting it ablaze. Today, Israel says one of its soldiers was stabbed by a Palestinian disguised as a news photographer. I spoke to Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the United States, who defended his country's use of force. What about the possibility of excessive force?
RON DERMER: Andrea, if someone was coming at you with a knife, would you want the police officer to take out a knife and to try to stop him or would you want that police officer to shoot that person before he would attack you?
MITCHELL: Not shoot to kill.
DERMER: Absolutely. Because knives kill. It's not just guns that kill, knives kill. And knives have killed. We have eight dead Israelis who were killed not with guns, they were killed with knives.
MITCHELL: You’re losing the war on social media because these videos – sometimes taken out of context, I'll grant you – are going viral throughout the world. You are potentially inciting more violence because of these incidents and the way they are being perceived.
DERMER: We are losing the war of lies. We are winning the war of truth.
(...)
MITCHELL: From your experience, have you ever seen gridlock quite to the extent that it is now, where there is no engagement between the two sides and no American intermediary?
MARTIN FLETCHER: I think that's based on frustration on everybody's side. The Palestinians frustrated with the fact they're not getting anywhere in terms of throwing back the Jewish settlers' occupation of parts of their land in the West Bank. Israelis are frustrated because – and Netanyahu keeps saying, “We want to talk peace. The Palestinian president won't meet with me.” You know, whether how true this is or not, we don't really know. But the bottom line is that Israel keeps saying, “We want to talk to the Palestinians and they won't talk to us.”
And the Americans are frustrated, the whole world’s frustrated because everybody’s looking at this repetition of violence that surges every few years. You know, the question, “Is this a third Intafada?,” I think, isn’t really relevant. The bottom line is there is tremendous frustration among the Palestinians. Inevitably it surges up, for whatever reasons there are, whatever sparks there are, and there are several clear sparks at the moment, and this will continue indefinitely, I think.
So I think frustration at the moment on everybody's side is the worrying thing. There is no real movement towards a peace process. There’s only a growth of frustration among the Palestinians and a growth of Israeli frustration with the world because Israel believes it's doing its best to control this surge of violence in as fair a way as possible. And as you mentioned earlier, you know, this is on social media. Israel is losing the perception war in social media, even though it is trying to keep the number of casualties down. That is always the case. Israel's story is very hard to tell, whereas the Palestinian story is much easier to tell.
(...)
