CBS’s Sunday political talk show Face the Nation spent its most recent episode lashing out against Israel and rallying around the Palestinians and their beloved Hamas terrorist group who rule over them in Gaza.
From the very beginning, host Margaret Brennan and correspondent Imtiaz Tyab touted claims that Israel has been engaged in “apartheid” war crimes” against poor Gazans and the real issue at hand is “blowback” to Israel’s response to the October 7 mass slaughter of over 1,400 innocents and it all could “backfire.”
Tyab had the second of two reports from the region and cheered the “massive demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians” “around the world,” including “over 100,000 people” “in London...demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.” Naturally, he censored any mention of the anti-Semitic rhetoric from said rallies calling for further exterminations of Jews.
He fretted that “the violence” in “the Israeli-occupied West Bank...is only getting worse” and painted Israel as the sudden aggressor.
Tyab then turned to the Palestinian National Initiative’s Mustafa Barghouti, who’s already made headlines for ugly rhetoric and peddled lies defending Hamas’s terror attack, such as insisting Hamas only targeted “military installations” and the hostages were largely soldiers.
“I’m shattered. I’m angry,” Barghouti said, adding he didn’t “understand” why Biden “instead of telling Israel, enough is enough...he’s encouraging them to have an invasion”.
A concerned Tyab wondered if Biden visiting “was a catastrophic mistake” and Barghouti confirmed by claiming Israel (and not his terrorist friends in Hamas) were “committ[ing]” “war crimes.”
Barghouti insisted the only way the violence will end is if Israel stops “commit[ting] these war crimes” against poor Hamas, agree to a “ceasefire” (i.e. a chance for his terrorist allies to reload), and Israel end its “occupation” and “apartheid” of the region.
Tyab obviously agreed, huffing Israel is why there hasn’t been peace since “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s successive hard-right governments have been firmly opposed to it” and peace “seems even further away than ever.”
No word on whether Tyab thinks Hamas’s assaulting, burning alive, decapitating, and murdering of over 1,400 innocents should be the source of blame.
This led into Brennan’s haranguing of Blinken, including her request that the U.S. demand “at least a temporary ceasefire” from Israel. Blinken clapped back, but Brennan persisted (click “expand”):
BLINKEN: First, Margaret, when I hear the stories, when I see the pictures of young children who have lost their lives in this conflict of Hamas’s making, whoever they are, wherever they are, whether they’re Palestinians, whether they’re Israelis, whether they’re — they’re Jews or Muslims, it hits me, and I know it hits virtually everyone right in the heart and that’s why it’s so important to do everything possible to protect them and why it’s so important to do everything possible to get assistance to those who need it, food, medicine, water.
BRENNAN: So, why not ask for at least a temporary pause in the bombing —
BLINKEN: We’ve — we’ve seen —
BRENNAN: — as was proposed at the U.N. this week?
BLINKEN: — we’ve seen, first of all, that, in order to get assistance in, we’ve had — we’ve had that happen and you saw the first 20 trucks go in yesterday. I expect more will follow today and the day after that. We want to make sure that we have sustained delivery of food, medicine, water, the things that people need. At the same time, I said something a minute ago that — that we have to — we have to remember. Israel has to do everything it can to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Freezing things in place where they are now would allow Hamas to remain where it is and to repeat what it’s done sometime in the future. No country could accept that.
Brennan brought up Barghouti and demanded he tell Israel that “enough is enough” with their airstrikes on Gaza. Again, Blinken correctly had it back: “Enough is enough should have been the case with — with Hamas two weeks ago.”
The CBS host continued to side with the Palestinians, touting “an impassioned speech” from the Jordanian king (which, though Brennan omitted this, never included a denunciation of Hamas or mention of the 200+ hostages) about how the U.S. seems to think Jewish blood matters more than Arab blood.
“That’s a warning from one of America’s closest friends in the region that this is a dangerous message to be sending, and it could have blowback. Are you concerned,” she asked.
Brennan even went after liberal media darling Liz Cheney and cheered Biden’s jab at the administration her father and former Vice President Dick Cheney served in: “And that was a nod to 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, potentially an overreach. Do you agree with that warning President Biden is issuing there, that there is the risk here of Israel taking actions that could backfire on their own security?”
When Cheney stated “the world has moved on far too quickly from what Hamas did”, Brennan was incensed: “CBS continues to tell those stories. So, just to be clear, the journalists have not moved on.”
Brennan also expressed concern for Gaza to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in a question about U.S. aid to Israel: “Do you think there need to be any provisions in there that would account for the risk of human rights violations in Gaza?”
She ended the show with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees Commisioner-General Philippi Lazzarini. Here were her questions (click “expand”):
I did want to first acknowledge our condolences. I saw that 29 of your employees were killed in Gaza according to the announcement, some while sleeping in their beds at home during these bombings. We’re sorry. Can you tell us what people at home need to know about what’s happening inside of Gaza right now?
(....)
Well, I saw that those 20 trucks did make it in yesterday through the Rafah gate, but that the U.N. estimates that’s — what — four percent of an average day imports. Secretary Blinken said he expects more trucks. What do you know about what aid is coming?
(....)
I do want you to address something, though, that got a lot of political attention here in the United States. There was a tweet from your agency that strongly implied aid was being taken by authorities who have links to Hamas. That tweet was then deleted from your account. And UNRWA issued a statement saying no looting had taken place. Was there looting? Is aid ending up in the hands of terrorists?
(....)
And you are running short on fuel now?
(....)
This week you said UNRWA was on the verge of collapse. There was already a $75 million shortfall. President Biden did announce that the U.S. would provide about $100 million to help Palestinians in Gaza in the West Bank from already allocated funds. Will that help your organization?
(....)
You are essentially filling the void of a government in providing some of these services. UNRWA, will it be able to continue operating after Israel launches this expected ground invasion?
To see the relevant transcript from October 22, click here.
