Scarborough Defends Israeli Anger At U.S. Restraint—After Blasting Bibi's ‘Horrific’ Policies

On Monday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough defended Israeli rejection of the Trump administration’s calls for restraint against Iran and Hezbollah. But true to form, he felt compelled to lead with a condemnation of Benjamin Netanyahu.

“For Americans who don’t understand exactly what’s going on here, yes, it’s very easy to be — I’m just speaking for myself — to be a supporter of Israel and absolutely deeply offended by Netanyahu’s policies over the past decade . . . Netanyahu's horrific policies."

Only after thus protecting his liberal street cred did Scarborough make the case for Israel's perspective:

“But if you’re an Israeli and you see the Americans saying, ‘Hey, listen, if Iran attacks you…’ It’s cool, don’t respond back. If Hezbollah continues to do what they’ve been doing for the past twenty years, firing rockets into Israel? Don’t worry about it. Yeah, just, just ignore that.”

Scarborough noted that this is “how this all looks to the Israelis” right now. He added:

“Somebody fired a rocket into, like, Texas, we'd be in Mexico City by nightfall. So that’s how the Israelis are thinking when they hear us saying, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”

The Texas-Mexico analogy is apt. Israelis facing daily threats from Hezbollah rockets and Iranian aggression have every reason to reject lectures about restraint. But while Scarborough’s defense of their frustration rang true, he felt compelled to cater to his left flank by getting his condemnation of Netanyahu emphatically on the record. 

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
Morning Joe
6/22/26
6:12 am EDT

JOE SCARBOROUGH: For Americans who don't understand exactly what's going on here, and yes, it's very easy to be, I'm just speaking for myself, to be a supporter of Israel and absolutely deeply offended by Netanyahu's policies, over the past decade.

But, if you're an Israeli and you see the Americans saying, "Hey, listen, if Iran attacks you, it's cool, don't respond back. If Hezbollah continues to do what they've been doing for the past twenty years, firing rockets into Israel? Eh! Don't worry about that."

I mean, that's how this all looks to the Israelis. I know nobody wants to think about how the Israelis actually are looking at this deal right now, because again, because of Netanyahu's horrific policies.

But right now, you have an American administration saying, if you get attacked by Israel [sic, Iran] or if you get attacked by Hezbollah, which they do all the time, they fire rockets into Israel, then don't do anything.

Somebody fired a rocket into, like, Texas we'd be in Mexico City by nightfall.

So, that's how the Israelis are thinking when they hear us saying, "Don't worry about it."

MICHAEL WEISS: Right. They have the Israeli opinion is, I mean, I think something like percent of Israelis think they won this war. I mean, a catastrophic failure for Netanyahu.