Re: Chris Cuomo Tears Biden A New One Over Israel: "Hostages Have Become An Afterthought"

On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:41:05 -0400
Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo tore into President Joe Biden on
Thursday, accusing the White House of sending a “mixed message” on
Israel and warning him that no amount of political pressure — even
from within his own party — was an “excuse to be weak.”
 
Cuomo was responding to Biden’s Thursday call with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he reportedly pressured the Israeli
leader to move ahead with a ceasefire in Gaza despite the fact that
the terrorist group Hamas — which started the current war with an
unprovoked attack on October 7th and is still holding Israeli and
American hostages — has thus far refused to make any concessions.
 
During the call, the president also suggested that U.S. policy toward
Israel moving forward would be reevaluated and determined based on
Netanyahu’s response to Biden’s demands.
 
Cuomo was apparently not impressed, and he used his Thursday
monologue to address Biden directly.
 
WATCH:
 
President Biden, you're treating the war against Israel as if
it were another political point of compromise. There is a primary
reality: Hamas is a terror organization and they need to give
the hostages back. pic.twitter.com/1V3MlGkqZc
 
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) April 5, 2024
 
“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. You gave a mixed message. You talked tough, what
sounded like a threat to your main ally in the region,” Cuomo said.
“And then you said you’re giving them more weapons.”
 
“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,” he continued.
 
Cuomo went on to explain that he understood the likely political
calculus that was going on behind the scenes, saying that he knew the
presidential race was thus far shaping up to be a close one and that
Biden stood to lose support from within his own party if he did not
make some effort to appease the pro-Palestinian voters. But he argued
that was “no excuse” for allowing the politics to drive policy when
there were still American hostages in the hands of Hamas terrorists.
 
“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.
There’s a primary reality, okay? We seem to have forgotten it,” Cuomo
added. “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. 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.”
 

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with a "progressive" pundit
like Cuomo but it seems to have happened in this case. Biden needs to
let Israel finish the job of shutting down Hamas and getting back
whatever hostages still survive. (And if he's got any sense at all, he
will NOT push Israel to give up any more of the terrorists presently in
Israeli jails, otherwise he is ensuring that those top terrorists will
rebuild Hamas and Islamic Jihad and cause ANOTHER massacre - or more
likely several - in due course.)


--
Rhino