MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough shouted at an Israeli official Thursday as he confronted him on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Scarborough confronted Nir Barkat, the Minister of Economy and Industry of Israel, on Netanyahu’s response to the war both before the attack and afterward.
The Israeli prime minister encouraged the Qatari government to send millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip which bolstered Hamas’ barbarous attack on his country, according to The New York Times. Netanyahu called the accusations that he tried to empower Hamas “ridiculous,” though he went through great strides to keep the money flowing.
Barkat called Qatar a “wolf in sheep’s clothes,” and said the money will likely be investigated by the Israeli government.
“No, no, no, no, I must correct you!” Scarborough shouted. “Benjamin Netanyahu was asked by the leaders of Qatar ‘Do you want us? Do you want us, Qatar, to give money to Hamas?’ This was in September. And Netanyahu’s representatives said ‘Yes, of course.’ You’re feeding that wolf and you’re telling that wolf to feed the Nazis in Gaza! So explain to me, I really want to know, why was Benjamin Netanyahu and his government funding—they were allies with Qatar—the funding of Hamas. Why?”
“I think it’s a mistake and it was uncovered October 7. October 7 demonstrated if you think you can buy quiet peace by funding Hamas, it’s a huge mistake,” the Israeli official said. “And it’s—”
“Why was Benjamin Netanyahu knowing that their charter said that they were to kill Jews and eradicate Israel. Why would any leader of Israel work to fund that organization to the two of hundreds of millions of dollars and work with Qatar to fund Hamas?” (RELATED: ‘Go Straight To Hell’: Joe Scarborough Rants Against Netanyahu And His Backers Over Gaza ‘False Choice’)
“I think that question should be asked, and we’ll get an answer—” Barkat began.
“It’s been asked. We’ve been asking for six months. When are we gonna get the answer?” an angry Scarborough interrupted.
Barkat said the answers will eventually be answered after Israel defeats Hamas.
Scarborough then asked Barkai about the “sickening” response to the attack, in which it took the Israeli government up to thirteen hours to take action against Hamas terrorists.
“To think of the Israeli women who were beaten, raped, murdered, the Israeli grandmothers who were burned to death, the toddlers who were shot in their beds. For ten hours, some of these people waited for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to come and rescue them. Those people, whose faces you were holding up, they sat and they waited in shelters. Their children saw their parents shot, parents saw some children shot, and they kept waiting for Netanyahu’s government to come rescue them. Two, three, four, seven, ten, in some cases thirteen hours! Where was Benjamin Netanyahu, where was the IDF, where were those defense forces for twelve and thirteen hours while the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust was unfolding within forty, fifty miles of Netanyahu?”
Barkat said the Israeli government was “caught by surprise” at the attack and said the government and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had “many faults.” Scarborough then fired back by raising the question of how Israel could be caught by surprise when Israeli intelligence and military personnel obtained a 40-page document of Hamas’ plan to attack their country over a year before the Oct. 7 attack, according to The New York Times.
“How could you be caught by surprise—how can you be caught by surprise when you had Hamas’ plans for a year? Netanyahu had Hamas’ terror attacks for a year! Why didn’t they act on it?” Scarborough asked.
“Let me answer please,” Barkat said. “The faults will be covered, and there are many, many challenges and we will investigate everything. Honestly, believe me, everyone in Israel, right, left, we all want to go down deep to investigate deep investigations on this issue, okay? But this is not the time. Right now, we have to focus on winning the war. With all due respect, this is not the time to interrogate and ask these questions.”
“Well with all due respect, I would say if Israel, a country that is absolutely necessary to freedom and democracy in the Middle East and the world, if Israel has been led in this position by a leader that allowed all of these things to happen, how in the world do you trust that leader to make the right decisions in the most important war since 1973?” Scarborough fired back.
Barkat said Israel is “all united” in its quest to win the war, and called on the war to focus on releasing the hostages.