MSNBC panelists admonished Trump for likening the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to two children fighting at school.
“Boy, it’s a lot beyond that,” Washington Post Foreign Affairs Columnist David Ignatius who’s covered issues in the Middle East for 45 years, told the panel of journalists. “This has been now a year of war, almost to the day. It began with Israel just shattered by a surprise attack.”
Watch the discussion below:
Trump made the controversial remarks on Wednesday during while campaigning in Milwaukee, just a day after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, and nearly a week after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27.
“This has really been bad, but they have to finish that process however it turns out, they have to finish that process. This is a little bit like two kids fighting in the schoolyard. Sometimes you just have to let go a bit, and we’ll see what happens, the former president said at the time, calling the tragic dispute a “horrible war” and implying the U.S. will likely become even more involved. “And then you see what’s happening even today. You know, where is that going to stop? You look at these forces. They shot down almost 200 rockets today. But this is not the way anybody should have to live. So we’re obviously going to be very involved in the Middle East.”
Ignatius believes Israel could be regaining its military forces.
“My sense is that in the last week, both with the killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in Lebanon, and then Israel’s ability to absorb, it seems, Iran’s counter attack, we’re seeing Israel, a year later in a position of real dominance, a regaining its Middle East military power,” Ignatius said to the panel. “Able to strike its enemies at will without suffering a major response. It’s the Middle East, so there’s another round coming. There’s more danger for Israel. But at this hour, you’d have to say that as Israel continues escalate, it’s kind of a steamroller and I don’t see a way that Iran can stop it.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett suggested during a CNN sit-down that Israel should immediately “take out Iran’s nuclear program,” attack Iran’s energy facilities as well as the “regime itself.”
Soufan Director of Research Colin Clarke agreed with Ignatius, but acknowledged that while President Joe Biden doesn’t support a move to go after Iran’s nuclear power, he does see it as a “window of opportunity” for Israel especially with Biden’s presidential position in limbo.
“The Israelis would be hard-pressed to do a thorough job of going after what are known to be ‘hard and deeply-buried” targets without U.S. logistical assistance. That said, the Israelis continue to buck U.S. opinion. They very well could go for it. And I think they do see a window of opportunity, given the quasi lame duck status of Biden, and all the other kind of factors. This is a bit of a perfect storm. We could see that in the coming days.”
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