Not only did Geraldo Rivera shockingly call out the United States on Wednesday for being “complicit in an ongoing crime against humanity” by providing Israel weapons to bomb Gaza, but the Fox News star declared that Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib—a Fox News bogeywoman—“is right” that such arms sales should be halted.
As the only Palestinian-American in Congress, Tlaib has been outspoken about what she describes as the Israeli “apartheid system” being inflicted on its Palestinian population. Amid increasing violence in Gaza, which has killed more than 200 Palestinians, Tlaib confronted President Joe Biden ahead of a Michigan speech, reportedly telling him the “White House must do far more to protect Palestinian lives, dignity, and human rights.”
After praising Tlaib as a “fighter” and promising her he would protect her family in the West Bank, the White House claimed that Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire,” representing the administration’s strongest stance yet on the ongoing tensions.
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After Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum said the “world is watching to see if President Biden moves over to the side of ‘The Squad’ against our ally,” adding that Tlaib opposes the $735-million sale of U.S. weapons to Israel “to defend itself in the battle against Hamas,” she asked Rivera if he was “sympathetic” to the Democratic lawmaker’s argument.
“I am indeed, Martha. People have to recognize what the Gaza Strip is,” Rivera declared. “It’s one of the most menacing places on Earth that I’ve ever reported from.”
He continued: “Everyone and everything going into and out of Gaza is controlled by Israel. Electricity, fuel, airspace, ports, cell phone service, even who gets to farm those meager fields. It’s effectively one of the world’s largest prison camps and it is being bombed with bombs supplied by the United States. It’s outrageous that we gave Israel these hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons without insisting on a ceasefire now.”
Conservative pundit Katie Pavlich, meanwhile, insisted that “Israelis can’t afford a ceasefire now” because of the threat they face from Hamas and others, adding that “Israel is doing what they can to defend its citizens.”
Piggybacking on Pavlich’s argument, MacCallum added that “Israel is a tiny country surrounded by people that don’t want it to exist,” and seemingly blamed the Biden administration for the escalating conflict, claiming, “It’s impossible not to see the behind-the-scenes effort to re-enter a deal with Iran at play here.”
Stating that he has “no proposed solution” for Middle East peace, Rivera instead focused his attention on the fact that dozens of Palestinian children have been killed in the recent Israeli airstrikes against Gaza.
“I want our audience—the fact that the United States of America is providing Israel many of the weapons Israel is using today to kill Palestinian civilians without demanding a cease-fire, Tlaib is right,” he exclaimed. “That makes us complicit in an ongoing crime against humanity.”
Pavlich fired back that her colleague deployed a “dishonest argument to accuse the Americans and Israelis of deliberately targeting civilians,” and she further claimed that Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields.
“They have no place to run. Where are they going to go?!” Rivera shot back, adding: “I am saying... an Israeli F-16 going 500 miles an hour is going to kill civilians.”
“You are repeating Hamas propaganda,” Pavlich fumed, prompting Rivera to remind her that he is Jewish and a Zionist.
“They go out of their way to stop civilians from being killed and Hamas uses them as shields. It’s a known fact and you’re denying it,” Pavlich responded anyhow.
“You shoot an artillery round from a tank and you expect it to land only on the military version of Hamas?” Rivera wondered aloud, leading MacCallum to end the segment with a nice dose of a good, old-fashioned bothsidesism.
“That’s one point that is valid,” the anchor concluded. “Katie’s point is also valid.”
