NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo tore into President Joe Biden on Thursday, accusing the White House of sending a “mixed message” on Israel and warning him that no amount of political pressure — even from within his own party — was an “excuse to be weak.”
Cuomo was responding to Biden’s Thursday call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he reportedly pressured the Israeli leader to move ahead with a ceasefire in Gaza despite the fact that the terrorist group Hamas — which started the current war with an unprovoked attack on October 7th and is still holding Israeli and American hostages — has thus far refused to make any concessions.
During the call, the president also suggested that U.S. policy toward Israel moving forward would be reevaluated and determined based on Netanyahu’s response to Biden’s demands.
Cuomo was apparently not impressed, and he used his Thursday monologue to address Biden directly.
WATCH:
President Biden, you're treating the war against Israel as if it were another political point of compromise. There is a primary reality: Hamas is a terror organization and they need to give the hostages back. pic.twitter.com/1V3MlGkqZc
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) April 5, 2024
“I know that the war in the Middle East is a major concern for you in the election, and I think that explains why you misplayed it the way you did today. You gave a mixed message. You talked tough, what sounded like a threat to your main ally in the region,” Cuomo said. “And then you said you’re giving them more weapons.”
“You’re treating the war against Israel as if it were another political point of compromise. ‘This is wrong. But this is wrong. And we need to do better here. And there has to be change and blah, blah, blah. Ceasefire.’ A lot of words, a lot of conditional language, a lot of half-speak, a lot of appeasement in a situation that is not about balance. It is about realities,” he continued.
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Cuomo went on to explain that he understood the likely political calculus that was going on behind the scenes, saying that he knew the presidential race was thus far shaping up to be a close one and that Biden stood to lose support from within his own party if he did not make some effort to appease the pro-Palestinian voters. But he argued that was “no excuse” for allowing the politics to drive policy when there were still American hostages in the hands of Hamas terrorists.
“I get how worried you are that you’re not going to have the same base you had the last time. But that is not an excuse to be weak. There’s a primary reality, okay? We seem to have forgotten it,” Cuomo added. “Hamas is a terror organization. You designated them as that. They stole people. They need to give the people they stole back to us, to Israel, first. The hostages have become an afterthought and that is wrong. And the reason it has happened is even more wrong. The reason it has happened is because other political exigencies and agendas have overtaken their relevance.”