While in mourning over the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on her Thursday MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell avoided talking to any Israeli officials and instead brought on former Palestinian Authority spokesperson Diana Buttu to denounce the victory of the Jewish leader.
Mitchell teed her up: "What prospect do you see of getting recognition for a Palestinian state now from the International Criminal Court, from the United Nations, from support in Canada and Europe, and from a large number of people in the U.S.?" Buttu replied: "Well, I think that it's become very clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu's clearly not interested in a Palestinian state....And so the Palestinians are gonna continue to push ahead for increased recognition."
Buttu proceeded to rant against Netanyahu's tenure:
I think the bigger issue is that the reason that Netanyahu seems to have won this election is because he's managed to govern all of these years with complete impunity. He hasn't faced any sanctions from the international community for his ongoing settlement construction expansion, and even as he declared the other day that there will be no Palestinian state, we don't see that there's any international pressure on him or any international sanctions that are going to be put on Israel for the fact that they continue to deny freedom to Palestinians.
After Mitchell asked about the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, Buttu continued to bash Israel:
...the Palestinian Authority is now realizing that the process of bilateral negotiations is a bankrupt....This is why they came out just a couple of weeks ago and said that they're going to start pushing more for – towards holding Israel accountable. They're going to be pushing for boycotts, for divestment, for sanctions. They're going to be pushing for Israel's isolation and for a case before the International Criminal Court.
Mitchell fretted that the U.S. – particularly Republicans – would not support such anti-Israel efforts: "But what prospect do you have for getting support in the U.S., given that the Republican leadership has made it very clear where it stands and Republican 2016 potential candidates were the first in the U.S. to tweet their congratulations to Netanyahu last night?"
Butto lamented: "Yes, I think that the United States is clearly a problem and this is one of the main issues, is that if we continue to go down this path in which Netanyahu is given a blank check to pursue – whether it's an attack on the Gaza Strip or more settlement activity – then we're going to see this very outcome."
She urged: "...we have to start putting sanctions on Israel to make sure that they get punished for the continued settlement activity."
On Tuesday, Mitchell spent the show allowing various Netanyahu critics to paint the Prime Minister as a "panicking" politician using "racist" rhetoric to turn out his supporters.
Here is a full transcript of Mitchell's March 18 interview with Buttu:
12:40 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And joining us now is Diana Buttu, who was a former spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority. Diana's in New York. Thank you very much for being with us.
DIANA BUTTU: Thank you, Andrea.
MITCHELL: What prospect do you see of getting recognition for a Palestinian state now from the International Criminal Court, from the United Nations, from support in Canada and Europe, and from a large number of people in the U.S.?
BUTTU: Well, I think that it's become very clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu's clearly not interested in a Palestinian state. He said as much, and he's been doing as much over the course of the past six years. And so the Palestinians are gonna continue to push ahead for increased recognition. And they've already gotten the recognition of a number of countries. It's already pushed ahead through the United Nations system. And they are going to be going to the International Criminal Court.
I think the bigger issue is that the reason that Netanyahu seems to have won this election is because he's managed to govern all of these years with complete impunity. He hasn't faced any sanctions from the international community for his ongoing settlement construction expansion, and even as he declared the other day that there will be no Palestinian state, we don't see that there's any international pressure on him or any international sanctions that are going to be put on Israel for the fact that they continue to deny freedom to Palestinians.
MITCHELL: Diana, there are some Palestinians who are questioning their own leadership, saying that after twenty-two years Mahmoud Abbas has not been able to deliver. What do you see from the Palestinian perspective? Because they have also been fractured.
BUTTU: Yes, most definitely. And I think that what has become very clear as a result of these elections and even before these elections is that the Palestinian Authority is now realizing that the process of bilateral negotiations is a bankrupt one and that instead they have to be pursuing a different strategy. This is why they came out just a couple of weeks ago and said that they're going to start pushing more for – towards holding Israel accountable. They're going to be pushing for boycotts, for divestment, for sanctions. They're going to be pushing for Israel's isolation and for a case before the International Criminal Court.
So they themselves have now realized that the policies that they pursued were bankrupt and were doing this because they were given a number of promises by the international community and by the United States government. So now it's become very clear that they have to pursue a very different strategy.
MITCHELL: But what prospect do you have for getting support in the U.S., given that the Republican leadership has made it very clear where it stands and Republican 2016 potential candidates were the first in the U.S. to tweet their congratulations to Netanyahu last night?
BUTTU: Yes, I think that the United States is clearly a problem and this is one of the main issues, is that if we continue to go down this path in which Netanyahu is given a blank check to pursue – whether it's an attack on the Gaza Strip or more settlement activity – then we're going to see this very outcome. I think that the two-state solution is now dead. And if anybody still believes in it, then we have to start putting sanctions on Israel to make sure that they get punished for the continued settlement activity.
MITCHELL: Diana Buttu, thank you very much. Thanks for being with us.
BUTTU: My pleasure.
