For her Friday show, MSNBC’s Joy Reid launched a wildly anti-American and anti-Israel segment where she could hardly contain her excitement that South Africa was “standing up” to the West at the International Court of Justice as it accuses Israel of genocide. Guest and HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed was even more wild as he suggested support for Israel was racist and its actions are akin to Russia's.
While the ICJ did not dismiss the case as Israel wanted, Reid managed to acknowledge that it did not order Israel to stop its campaign, a move that led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to portray the ruling as a win of sorts, but as Reid tells it South Africa came out the big winner, “Besides having major implications for Israelis and Palestinians, this is also a big moment for South Africa, and frankly, the Global South as a whole. Who after decades of feeling unappreciated by the U.N., is defining its place on the world stage, standing up not just to Israel but to the United States and to other Western superpowers.”
Reid then introduced her guest and asked him to “Give me your assessment as somebody who has an expertise in this area of how big of a deal this ruling is.”
Ahmed began by immediately patting himself on the back and attacking President Joe Biden from the left, “I'll say as someone with expertise and someone who grew up in the Global South, this is a huge moment. There is such global frustration and frankly confusion over four months in President Biden having not changed course, as the death toll in Gaza has increased, as allegations of war crimes have come in.”
He continued, “So, for people who have been alarmed by this in the South, you talk to us about human rights, about the international rules based order when it came to Ukraine. What about brown people in Palestine? This is a huge moment.”
The only hypocrisy South Africa exposed was its own. Ahmed wants to talk about Ukraine so a brief review of the South Africa’s record on the issue shows it constantly abstaining on U.N. votes condemning Russia’s invasion, it conducts naval drills with Russia, and while the ICJ did not order Israel to stop its campaign, it has ordered Russia to stop its war, but Pretoria just yawns, and Israel, like Ukraine was the one that was attacked for no good reason.
Nevertheless, Ahmed gleefully welcomed the news that South Africa is taking on Israel and the U.S., “what this essentially says is they're going to be facing charges of genocide for years to come, right, they're going to be publicly and legally associated with this. Which is a huge burden to bear and especially for Israel, a state founded in the shadow of the Holocaust, it's a deeply and emotional and, kind of, tragic moment.”
And if South Africa had its way, Israel would not be able to defend itself against a second Holocaust.
Here is a transcript for the January 26 show:
MSNBC The ReidOut
1/26/2024
7:48 PM ET
JOY REID: Besides having major implications for Israelis and Palestinians, this is also a big moment for South Africa, and frankly, the Global South as a whole. Who after decades of feeling unappreciated by the U.N., is defining its place on the world stage, standing up not just to Israel but to the United States and to other Western superpowers.
Joining me now is Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for the Huffington Post. Welcome to the show Abbar, I’ve been wanting to have you on. Give me your assessment as somebody who has an expertise in this area of how big of a deal this ruling is.
AKBAR SHAHID AHMED: Thanks so much for having me, Joy. And I'll say as someone with expertise and someone who grew up in the Global South, this is a huge moment. There is such global frustration and frankly confusion over four months in President Biden having not changed course, as the death toll in Gaza has increased, as allegations of war crimes have come in.
So, for people who have been alarmed by this in the South, you talk to us about human rights, about the international rules based order when it came to Ukraine. What about brown people in Palestine? This is a huge moment.
I think the judgment is also really important in that it says Palestinians in Gaza are a protected group, which is really important because there's a lot of denialism over the idea that Palestinians are a group at all.
The court has essentially said that's not true and I think for Israel and the U.S., what this essentially says is they're going to be facing charges of genocide for years to come, right, they're going to be publicly and legally associated with this. Which is a huge burden to bear and especially for Israel, a state founded in the shadow of the Holocaust, it's a deeply and emotional and, kind of, tragic moment.
