Kudos to Joe Scarborough. On Friday, he went surprisingly out of his way to put Americans in the shoes of Israelis so that we would understand why the ceasefire with Hamas is, as Scarborough described it, "incredibly unpopular in Israel."
He reminded, "The Israeli citizens are the ones that see the 3,000, 4,000 rockets coming in, and they put pressure on their politicians to finish off Hamas, finish off the rocket launches." He continued with the clincher: "Just like I’m sure we would in the United States, as well."
Scarborough also noted that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu "is facing a fierce backlash from right-wing Israelis for halting too soon."
Concluded Scarborough:
"Just something to put in perspective about how we look at it and how the Israeli people look at it. The people that are on the other side of those Hamas rockets."
Seems like Scarborough was having some stirrings from his days as a congressman, and a member of a Republican caucus that was strongly supportive of Israel. Will Joe have the gumption to take on the likes of Ilhan Omar or Ocasio-Cortez? Why not invite them on the show and ask how they'd want the United States to respond if thousands of rockets were raining down on Minneapolis or Brooklyn?
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/21/21
6:08 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: I'll tell you one thing that happens, Mika, in Israel that I think a lot of us in America don’t understand, because we usually get to these conflicts in the news after they've begun and after the first buildings have been hit.
But one of the realities that Netanyahu has faced all along, and we’ve heard it on our show, is that these cease-fires are incredibly unpopular in Israel. Because, of course, the Israeli citizens are the ones that see the 3,000, 4,000 rockets coming in, and they put pressure on their politicians to finish off Hamas, finish off the rocket launches. Just like I’m sure we would in the United States, as well.
But the AP reporting this morning that Netanyahu is facing a fierce backlash from right-wing Israelis for halting too soon. Just, just something to put in perspective about how we look at it and how the Israeli people look at it. The people that are on the other side of those Hamas rockets.
