MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to blame for the progressive victories in New York’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.
Progressive Upsets in New York Primaries
Brad Lander defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman, whom he criticized as too lenient with Israel. Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose supporters chanted “free Palestine” at her victory party, unseated longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat. Claire Valdez, who received an endorsement from a pro-Palestinian PAC, beat established politicians in another district. All were endorsed by New York City’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
Scarborough Points to Netanyahu
But the “Morning Joe” star didn’t think Mamdani was responsible for the political upheaval. “If you want to blame anybody for what happened last night … I think you have to blame Benjamin Netanyahu,” Scarborough said. “Four years of maximalist aims, four years of ahistoric goals in the Middle East that anybody ... even me, could have told anybody over the past 20 years, it’s not going to work.”
He continued: “The idea that you’re going to be able to brutalize children and women in Gaza with bombing that looks indiscriminate on TV day in and day out for years, that you’re gonna be able to level half of Lebanon, that you’re gonna be able continue to allow thugs to run wild in the West Bank. And brutalizing Palestinians, brutalizing Christians in Bethlehem, brutalizing Christians across that area, along with Palestinian Muslims — especially Palestinian Muslims — blowing up Catholic churches in Gaza. Of course, I’m saying things that would relate to some of these people who are so shocked that Israel is in such low standing in America right now.”
Shift in American Views on Israel
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, said he “was always instinctively pro-Israeli and anti-Palestinian growing up,” beginning with the Munich Olympics terror attack on the Israeli team in 1972. “That shaped an entire generation’s views on that conflict,” he said.
“Well, what’s shaping the views now?” the host continued. “Images out of Gaza, images out of the West Bank. Images out of Lebanon, a famine out of Gaza, and an American president who tells Netanyahu, go, unrestrained — until his war in Iran goes horribly wrong. So you can blame all of this on Benjamin Netanyahu... He is the reason why Israel’s standing, not only in New York City, but across America, is lower than it has been since 1948. And you’re starting to see that in elections, not only on the far left, but on the far right.”
