"This 'mistake' hit comes a day after the precision strike that killed the Iranian general in Syria. It's hard to reconcile those two things."
That was Jonathan Lemire on today's Morning Joe. In saying that it's hard to "reconcile" Israel's "mistake" hit on the World Central Kitchen aid workers with the "precision" hit on the Iranian general, Lemire is hinting strongly this wasn't a mistake at all, but rather, an intentional act by Israel.
As Israel has acknowledged, the strike was a "grave mistake." But while Lemire focused on the vehicles being well-marked with logos, he failed to mention that the strike happened at night -- when logos would be less visible, if visible at all.
MSNBC Republican Elise Jordan reacted angrily after Lemire said that, behind the scenes, Biden is furious at Netanyahu. Said a visibly upset Jordan:
"I'm so sick of hearing how upset President Biden is. The buck stops with him. If he wants to stop arms sales, if he wants to stop the bombs that are indiscriminately killing civilians, he can. He has the power. We don't need him and his aides going to reporters and talking on background about how upset they are."
Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough claimed he was staunchly pro-Israel and then called for a "permanent cease-fire," while also calling for two things that a permanent cease-fire would make unlikely: the release of hostages and the elimination of Hamas. If a permanent cease-fire were declared, the pressure on Hamas to release hostages would dissipate. And how would Scarborough expect Hamas to be eliminated if a permanent cease-fire—which would leave about one-quarter of its battalions intact—were declared?
Scarborough also called for a two-state solution. That is another practical impossibility, given the implacable rejection of the idea by an overwhelming proportion of Palestinians.
Just two days ago, the New York Times published an op-ed by Tareq Baconi, the president of the Palestinian Policy Network, entitled: "The Two-State Solution Is an Unjust, Impossible Fantasy."
Baconi ended his piece by declaring that the only solution is "A single state from the river to the sea." That equates to a call for the total destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
4/3/24
6:08 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: Israel, and the supporters of Israel, which I am, have been, always will be, will be fooling themselves if they don't think that the overwhelming number of Americans agree with Jose Andres, that this is just enough, and they need to focus on, on a permanent cease-fire. They need to focus, focus on getting the hostages home, and they need to focus on creating a world moving forward, without Hamas, and of course in Israel it will be without Benjamin Netanyahu, and maybe, just maybe then, we can take the first step of a thousand steps toward a two-state solution.
. . .
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Those vehicles couldn't have been better marked. In fact, it looks like, from the footage of the destroyed van, one of the missiles went right through the logo of the World Central Kitchen. [Image of van displayed] Right there, and just killed everyone inside.
And it should be noted to Richard's point earlier, this mistake hit comes a day after the precision strike that killed the Iranian general in Syria. It's hard to reconcile those two things.
. . .
And now, Elise, we have a moment where the president, and this has been bubbling up behind the scenes for a while. President Biden, frankly, is furious at Prime Minister Netanyahu. But yet, still, his administration has not conditioned sales, weapons sales, has not conditioned aid. They haven't done it yet. Now, maybe, this is the moment that comes. This also happens, we think, a week or two perhaps before this Rafah offensive, which really could be a flash point.
ELISE JORDAN: Okay, I'm so sick of hearing how upset President Biden is. The buck stops with him. If he wants to stop arms sales, if he wants to stop the bombs that are indiscriminately killing civilians, he can. He has the power. We don't need him and his aides going to reporters and talking on background about how upset they are. What happened yesterday is still going to happen.
