“Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski questioned Thursday why Israel would “allow” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retain power when, according to Scarborough, he’s to blame for “Hamas being able to run loose.”
“What happened that day? How in the hell did Benjamin Netanyahu’s government allow that to happen? Well, you can’t ask those questions,” Scarborough said, admonishing reports from The New York Times that Netanyahu “encouraged” billions of dollars to be sent from the Qatari government to Gaza — funds that in actuality aided Hamas and their militant capabilities on Oct. 7.
“Why would you allow this man to continue running your country?” Scarborough asked, with Brzezinski chiming in: “I think they’re asking that question, a lot of Israelis.”
“He is responsible for Hamas being able to run loose in Israel and commit the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust,” Scarborough said.
“We know the nature of Hamas. We know their stated goal has always been to kill Jews, to destroy Israel. Yet Netanyahu was funding them,” the host continued, elsewhere adding that “Netanyahu was the chief sponsor of Hamas through Qatar. It was Netanyahu that was keeping the money flowing there.”
"Why would you allow [Netanyahu] to continue running your country when he is responsible for Hamas being able to run loose in Israel and commit the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust?"
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) April 4, 2024
— @JoeNBC on PM Netanyahu's lack of response to attacks pic.twitter.com/fx4MjY1dTi
Scarborough then argued that the prime minister had Hamas’ war plans and “did nothing” — that “he was asleep at the switch when this happened.”
The host also mocked the argument that Netanyahu’s leadership can’t be interrogated because Israel is in the midst of war. He compared it to hiring a nanny with an interest in scorpions.
“I mean, Hamas, it’s like scorpions. If you had a nanny put scorpions into your baby’s crib, they say, ‘Well, you know, it’s a tough time right now, the baby’s in the hospital,’” Scarborough posed. “‘We better keep this same nanny until the baby…’”
“No!” he shouted, cutting himself off. “In this case, the man who is almost singularly responsible for letting Israel’s guard down. He was too interested in fighting the rule of law in Israel, he was too interested in dividing one Israeli against the other, he was too busy tending to the needs of religious extremists — so much so that he kind of forgot to take care of the secular elements of the IDF and the Massad and the intel services that had kept Israel safe since 1948.”
Watch the full “Morning Joe” segment in the video above.
