President Joe Biden was berated for sending a “mixed message” on Israel as NewsNation host Chris Cuomo accused him of treating the Hamas-held hostages as an “afterthought.”
In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden urged a ceasefire in Gaza, which his supporters applauded as a tough message. But Cuomo saw it as “a lot of half-speak” with no grasp on the “realities” of the ongoing conflict.
“I know that the war in the Middle East is a major concern for you in the election, and I think that explains why you misplayed it the way you did today,” Cuomo said Thursday.
“You gave a mixed message. You talked tough, what sounded like a threat to your main ally in the region. And then you said you’re giving them more weapons,” he continued.
“You’re treating the war against Israel as if it were another political point of compromise. ‘This is wrong. But this is wrong. And we need to do better here. And there has to be change and blah, blah, blah. Ceasefire.’ A lot of words, a lot of conditional language, a lot of half-speak, a lot of appeasement in a situation that is not about balance. It is about realities,” Cuomo added.
Today, I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu to emphasize that strikes on aid workers and the humanitarian situation in Gaza are unacceptable.
Israel must implement steps to address civilian harm and the safety of workers – and work toward a ceasefire to bring hostages home. pic.twitter.com/c7yB0jwq06
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 4, 2024
“And I get the pressure from the left. I get it, and I get how tight the race is. And I get how worried you are that you’re not going to have the same base you had the last time. But that is not an excuse to be weak,” Cuomo continued his message to the president.
“There’s a primary reality, okay? We seem to have forgotten it. Hamas is a terror organization. You designated them as that. They stole people. They need to give the people they stole back to us, to Israel, first,” he said.
“The hostages have become an afterthought and that is wrong. And the reason it has happened is even more wrong. The reason it has happened is because other political exigencies and agendas have overtaken their relevance. The aid workers being hit. Horrible. Matters, of course. Deserves attention, absolutely. But also makes the lack of attention to the hostages apparent,” he pointed out.
” You’re asking Israel to do what you never would and I don’t know who else has. Pulling back under threat, existential threat, meaning they want you exterminated,” Cuomo contended.
“And by the way, you don’t get your people back first. And it does feed the idea — I know you hear this, especially you, Tony [Blinken] and I know I hear it because I know who’s talked to you about it –that it feeds this malignancy, that Jews are treated differently. That Hamas is given more of a break than your main ally. Why even mention ceasefire before they give back the hostages?” he asked, a question many others have also had.
He wrapped up his remarks with a reminder to Biden about his job.
“What you were saying today was a mixed message that made nothing better. I may have pleased your left flank that is hyper-sympathetic to the suffering in Gaza. And there’s nothing wrong with seeing the humanity in that,” he concluded.
“But that’s not your job. Your job is to do something about it. And if you want to help it stop, deal with the suffering and do it smart. That’s why you’re running for office. And if you keep it like today, you’re right: This issue may beat you.”
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Author: Frieda Powers
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