Joe Scarborough said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be blamed for progressive wins in New York’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, arguing four years of “maximalist aims” and war strategy have damaged Israel’s standing and fueled electoral shift
Joe Scarborough didn’t mince words after New York’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.
On his “Morning Joe” program, the former Republican congressman pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the person to “blame” for what he described as progressive victories—wins he connected directly to America’s shifting political attitudes toward Israel.
“Four years of maximalist aims, four years of ahistoric goals in the Middle East that anybody … even me, could have told anybody over the past 20 years, it’s not going to work,” Scarborough said, arguing that Israel’s actions have consequences that are showing up well beyond foreign policy.
Scarborough said New York City’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, endorsed all of the progressive candidates who won in the Democratic primary. But he pushed back on the idea that Mamdani was the driver of the upheaval.
“If you want to blame anybody for what happened last night … I think you have to blame Benjamin Netanyahu. ” Scarborough said. adding: “The idea that you’re going to be able to brutalize children and women in Gaza with bombing that looks indiscriminate on TV day in and day out for years. that you’re gonna be able to level half of Lebanon. that you’re gonna be able continue to allow thugs to run wild in the West Bank.”.
He continued with a string of images he said are shaping public opinion: “brutalizing Palestinians, brutalizing Christians in Bethlehem, brutalizing Christians across that area, along with Palestinian Muslims — especially Palestinian Muslims — blowing up Catholic churches in Gaza.”
Scarborough also suggested that these issues help explain why Israel’s position in the United States has deteriorated in a way that is spilling into elections. He said he was “saying things that would relate to some of these people who are so shocked that Israel is in such low standing in America right now.”.
He then offered his own political origin story, saying he “was always instinctively pro-Israeli and anti-Palestinian growing up,” beginning with the Munich Olympics terror attack on the Israeli team in 1972.
“That shaped an entire generation’s views on that conflict,” Scarborough said.
But he turned the question back outward. asking. “Well. what’s shaping the views now?” He pointed to what he described as images from Gaza. the West Bank. and Lebanon. alongside “a famine out of Gaza. ” and he tied it to what he characterized as an American president telling Netanyahu to proceed “unrestrained.”.
Scarborough argued that Israel’s falling standing is not only a New York issue. He said Netanyahu is “the reason why Israel’s standing. not only in New York City. but across America. is lower than it has been since 1948. ” and he said that shift is “starting to see that in elections. not only on the far left. but on the far right.”.
Joe Scarborough Morning Joe Benjamin Netanyahu Zohran Mamdani New York Democratic primary progressive victories Israel standing in America Gaza West Bank Lebanon Munich Olympics 1972 U.S. elections