The Atlantic’s faux Republican, David Frum made an appearance Monday night on NewsNation’s Cuomo with a new angle to malign Israel: They’re cowards. That was his argument for why Israel had yet to launch a ground invasion of Gaza. One might argue it was the attitude of a man who had a relative who was abducted by Hamas, but Frum bizarrely said he trusted the terrorist organization to treat his relative “well.”
After introducing Frum, the first question host Chris Cuomo had for his guest was for an update on his relative who was videoed being taken away by Hamas terrorists:
My cousins – I have cousins who are Israeli-born U.S. citizens. Their son was one of those taken. And that's a picture of him right there, Omari. He just turned 22 this week. His family saw him being bundled into the back of a truck and abused on his way into the truck. They’ve had no word since then. He was unwounded, so we trust that he is well, but of course, it is an incredibly stressful situation for his very brave family.
Earlier in the show, Cuomo explained why he preferred to call the people taken by Hamas “stolen” rather than “hostages.” He made the point that the word “hostage” implied an intent to use them as a bargaining chip in a negotiation and return them unharmed. “There is no sign that Hamas wants to negotiate their release and the way that they were treating human beings suggests very strongly that they have no particular interest in the longevity of any of these people,” he condemned the terrorists.
But Frum didn’t really seem to care about that reality as he started taking swipes at the bravery of the Israel Defense Forces and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resolve for a ground invasion of Gaza.
“I wonder whether the Israelis were ever really all that series about the ground invasion,” he chided. “Netanyahu has always been very tactically cautious…He's very force with the way he speaks but he's always been hesitant about the use of force and especially infantry, ground force.”
Cuomo’s question was about whether or not Israel was delaying the invasion in order to track down the location of hostages. Frum’s assessment was that Israel was trying to find another way to deal with Hamas besides toppling them completely, which had been the tune Israeli officials had been singing for over a week:
Gaza is going to be urban warfare. It's going to be underground warfare. The casualties will be horrific. You want to look at is are there any smarter ways to do this. And economic pressure – bringing on Hamas’s sponsors. Hamas, of course, pays its bills with money from Qatar, but also from the European Union from Turkey – from many – from even the United States via the United Nations that they divert money from UN programs that are in Gaza. Can that flow of funds be turned off and can pressure be put that way?
Can intelligence gathering do anything? There have been American teams of experts on hostage rescue and hostage information arriving in Israel.
“So maybe they're looking for something other than driving the head through the plate-glass window,” he said.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NewsNation’s Cuomo
October 16, 2023
8:32:30 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: Now, I want to bring ex-Bush speechwriter – coined the term “axis of evil,” by the way – current staff writer, one of the smartest guys, I know over at The Atlantic, David Frum. It's good to see you.
DAVID FRUM: It’s good to see you.
CUOMO: Any word on your relative who was among those stolen?
FRUM: Thank you. That's very kind of you to ask. My cousins – I have cousins who are Israeli born U.S. citizens. Their son was one of those taken. And that's a picture of him right there, Omari. He just turned 22 this week. His family saw him being bundled into the back of a truck and abused on his way into the truck. They’ve had no word since then. He was unwounded, so we trust that he is well, but of course, it is an incredibly stressful situation for his very brave family.
CUOMO: Do you believe that what's going on right now is Israel a scouring the ground, maybe with America’s help to try to find the hostages? And that's why there hasn't been the invasion. Everyone's waiting for.
FRUM: I wonder whether the Israelis were ever really all that series about the ground invasion. Going – Netanyahu has always been very tactically cautious. He's got a strong – He's very force with the way he speaks but he's always been hesitant about the use of force and especially infantry, ground force.
Gaza is going to be urban warfare. It's going to be underground warfare. The casualties will be horrific. You want to look at is are there any smarter ways to do this. And economic pressure – bringing on Hamas’s sponsors. Hamas, of course, pays its bills with money from Qatar, but also from the European Union from Turkey – from many – from even the United States via the United Nations that they divert money from UN programs that are in Gaza. Can that flow of funds be turned off and can pressure be put that way?
Can intelligence gathering do anything? There have been American teams of experts on hostage rescue and hostage information arriving in Israel. So maybe they're looking for something other than driving the head through the plate-glass window.
CUOMO: Quickly, David, what do you think of the idea of Speaker Jordan?
FRUM: I think he wrote this letter that says, ‘That person I've been for the past 16 years of my careers. That person you see on TV; I’ve got this piece of paper that says I'm going to be a very different kind of person from here on.’ So, obviously believe the piece of paper on which he scribbled when he was being ambitious and not the behavior we've seen in the past 16 years. When, for example, he tried to overturn a lawful election to president of United States.
Look, it's better to have almost any speaker than no speaker. Some things will get passed with him, but he's not a person to commence a lot of trust in Congress and even on his own party – among his own side, not lot of affection.
(…)
