President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are having a bit of a disagreement about what post-war Gaza will look like and to make sense of it all, PBS NewsHour host Geoff Bennett invited foreign policy non-experts, Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart and New York Times columnist David Brooks to the Friday show to figure out why. Naturally, the only reasons Brooks and Capehart could up with were Netanyahu’s domestic situation, including his desire to stay out of jail.
Bennett began with Capehart, “And, Jonathan, really the divisions between these two men on all of those issues, you could argue, has never been as pronounced. Help us understand the dynamics at play here.”
Capehart started by trying to portray Biden as some sort of international statesman trying to keep the proverbial chessboard from catching on fire, “Well, when I look at these dynamics, one, you have a president of the United States who is desperately trying to keep a lid on the Middle East as much as he can.”
As for Netanyahu, “you have an Israeli prime minister who has political problems, because he's got a far-right coalition government that he's trying to keep with him, so he can remain prime minister. And he also has legal problems. A lot of people say that he is waging this war in part because he doesn't want to go to jail.”
Capehart omits that the Israeli war cabinet is a unity government with opposition member Benny Gantz, but these are inconvenient facts and therefore ignored.
Reverting back to the copious praise of Team Biden, Capehart added, “And so when you put this mix together, of course, it's oil and water. I praise the president, I praise the secretary of State for trying as hard as they can to be the adults in this situation, looking at this from a diplomatic perspective. But they're dealing with a prime minister who has very parochial considerations in a war that has global significance.”
Bennett then turned to Brooks and wondered how Biden is supposed to work with someone like Netanyahu, “I think you can argue that Netanyahu believes that he can outmaneuver and outlast U.S. officials and American presidents. As the — as President Biden is pushing for a Palestinian state after the war, Netanyahu gave that speech yesterday where he says, ‘the prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends, saying no when necessary, and saying yes when possible.’ How does Biden contend with that?”
Brooks agreed with Capehart that “Bibi Netanyahu is about Bibi Netanyahu and staying in power. And so far, he's been pretty good at it.”
He also pretended that Netanyahu’s behavior doesn’t have anything to do with Israel’s actual security situation, but is rather about domestic posturing, “And his strategy now, apparently, is, I'm going to defend America — I'm going to defend Israel from America. And those Americans are trying to shove a two-state solution down our throat, and I'm going to be your defender.”
Brooks continued, “He has very remote chances of being prime minister after the war ends, because he's going to get blamed for October 7, deservedly. And so he's adopted this strategy, which is insane. I mean, the idea that America would — that Bibi Netanyahu would attack the prime — president of the United States, who came to Israel right after October 7?”
Brooks is probably correct, so what happens when Netanyahu is replaced by someone with basically shares the same skepticism or even hostility towards the idea of a Palestinian state? More inconvenient facts for PBS.
Brooks went on to accuse Netanyahu of living in a fantasy land, “And, plus, there's just no viability to his plan. He's got a war with no end date. He's got this dream of ‘security’ from the river to the sea. You can't have a future in the Middle East without some Palestinian Authority. Those people live there. And he's got an opportunity to sign alliances with Saudi Arabia and everybody else, but the Israelis need a Palestinian partner.”
Yes, they do, Netanyahu just did the impolite thing of noticing they don’t have one because the PA is either unwilling or unable to deal. Still, Brooks dismissed Netanyahu’s vision as “a campaign strategy, more than anything else.”
By that logic, Biden’s position is also a campaign strategy to keep the Democratic base from fracturing, but PBS thinks only one of the men is acting with domestic considerations in mind.
Here is a transcript for the January 19 show:
PBS NewsHour
1/19/2024
7:34 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, as we reported earlier in the program, President Biden spoke today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in nearly a month. They talked about the ongoing war in Gaza, the risk for a regional escalation, and also what the plan is for Gaza after the war.
And, Jonathan, really the divisions between these two men on all of those issues, you could argue, has never been as pronounced. Help us understand the dynamics at play here.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, when I look at these dynamics, one, you have a president of the United States who is desperately trying to keep a lid on the Middle East as much as he can.
And then you have an Israeli prime minister who has political problems, because he's got a far-right coalition government that he's trying to keep with him, so he can remain prime minister. And he also has legal problems. A lot of people say that he is waging this war in part because he doesn't want to go to jail.
And so when you put this mix together, of course, it's oil and water. I praise the president, I praise the secretary of State for trying as hard as they can to be the adults in this situation, looking at this from a diplomatic perspective. But they're dealing with a prime minister who has very parochial considerations in a war that has global significance.
BENNETT: And, David, I think you can argue that Netanyahu believes that he can outmaneuver and outlast U.S. officials and American presidents. As the — as President Biden is pushing for a Palestinian state after the war, Netanyahu gave that speech yesterday where he says, “the prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends, saying no when necessary, and saying yes when possible.” How does Biden contend with that?
DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, well, and Bibi Netanyahu is about Bibi Netanyahu and staying in power. And so far, he's been pretty good at it.
And his strategy now, apparently, is, I'm going to defend America — I'm going to defend Israel from America. And those Americans are trying to shove a two-state solution down our throat, and I'm going to be your defender.
He has very remote chances of being prime minister after the war ends, because he's going to get blamed for October 7, deservedly. And so he's adopted this strategy, which is insane. I mean, the idea that America would — that Bibi Netanyahu would attack the prime — president of the United States, who came to Israel right after October 7?
And, plus, there's just no viability to his plan. He's got a war with no end date. He's got this dream of "security" from the river to the sea. You can't have a future in the Middle East without some Palestinian Authority. Those people live there. And he's got an opportunity to sign alliances with Saudi Arabia and everybody else, but the Israelis need a Palestinian partner.
And somebody's got to construct that. So his idea that you could do this without any Palestinian partner, it's just completely unworkable. But it's a campaign strategy, more than anything else.
