Juan Williams blamed former President Donald Trump for the renewed hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
Williams said Monday that the peace deals negotiated by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “left the Palestinians behind” and that had led to additional conflict. (RELATED: ‘That Goes Back To Eisenhower’: Juan Williams Blows Off Hamas Rocket Attacks On Israel)
WATCH:
Dagen McDowell began the conversation by noting that several prominent young Democrats had spoken out against Israel. Jesse Watters turned the question to Williams, asking whether he believed the party had a problem with anti-semitism.
“Are you kidding me? This conversation is so wild to me. I think they’re like —” Williams began.
“Well, it’s the only aid that Bernie wants to cut, for Israel?” Watters interrupted.
“Let me finish this point, Jesse. You asked the question. I was responding. There are like 23 or 24 Jewish Democrats and two Jewish Republicans,” Williams pushed back, arguing that Jewish Americans probably didn’t feel like Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was in their corner.
Williams went on to argue that the Israelis controlled the situation because they were superior in terms of military strength, calling the conflict a “David and Goliath situation.” He agreed with his cohosts that Hamas should not be firing rockets, but suggested that because Israel’s counterattacks were more effective than Hamas’ rockets, they were the responsible party.
“Juan, Juan —” Watters tried to cut in. “So you’re saying Hamas is bad at terrorism?”
“Let me finish. It’s one person —” Williams continued.
“So Israel should respond —” Watters tried again.
“One person here — I’m sorry, Jesse. You’re so wrong on this,” Williams replied. “Guess what? This didn’t start because Hamas started it. This started because people were being — the Israeli settlers were coming in Israeli Army forces … Then you get people angry. So much of this goes back to Trump and Netanyahu making a deal with allies —”
“Juan, you —” Watters pressed a third time, but Williams continued.
“I’m just saying, they’re going after Iran and Iran’s nukes. Okay, I understand that. But they absolutely left the Palestinians behind, the two-state solution that America had pursued for decades. Just left behind. So the Palestinians feel absolutely voiceless and powerless,” he concluded.
“I am just sitting here at this table listening to this and I don’t know what is going on. That’s my impression,” Greg Gutfeld responded. “We can talk about the displacement. It’s a land dispute that Hamas used as an opportunity to start this war. If you want to go into that, we’re gonna need an hour to go into it. But don’t spin it like that. If you’re going to use the David and Goliath situation, use it appropriately. This ‘David’ happens to be the one that keeps starting the damn fight.”
“The most absurd argument is that the fact that somebody is a superior military force, somehow makes that a war crime? The fact that rockets aimed at Israeli citizens are protected by the Iron Dome but the people sending the rockets aren’t? That’s a war crime?” Gutfeld asked, arguing that bullies didn’t always have to be big. “You’re blaming the victim. It’s disgusting.”
