On my radio program yesterday, I interviewed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who made a fair amount of news during our conversation. I also welcomed back to the show former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had not yet publicly addressed the barbaric terrorist attack in Israel last weekend. She called the massacre "shocking" and "nothing like" Gaza crises she'd dealt with while in office. She also told me what she would tell Israeli leaders if they reached out for her counsel, (correctly) asserted that Iran's "fingerprints are all over" the deadly plot, and responded to my question about whether the Bush administration had made a mistake in supporting Israel's 2005 unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, and the subsequent elections -- at least in retrospect. Here is our full exchange:
On American advice to Israel in the aftermath of October 7th:
"This is not a time for the United States to tell the Israelis what to do in the context of their democracy and their response to this attack. And especially how they now are going to secure themselves...what I hope we're doing and what I think we're doing, which is to say we will supply and resupply ammunition. We will continue to share what we can in terms of intelligence. But if you want to discuss with us how you now are going to carry this out, we are open to listening." It's going to be very hard now to try to micromanage what the Israelis are going to do in response. And I don't, frankly, think we should.
On Iran's role, and President Biden's avoidance of even referencing the regime in his (otherwise strong, in my view) speech yesterday:
"I think [Iran's] fingerprints are all over this...I probably would have, had I been President Biden, at least said and state sponsors of this kind of terrorism. And the Iranians would have known who that meant. Everyone would have known. The United States will also not tolerate state sponsors of terrorism in this. That would have allowed, I think, a kind of backing off of this idea that we're somehow going to reach out to the Iranians, that we going to have some kind rapprochement coming out of this recent swap of prisoners and the $6 billion that went back to the Iranians, which I always thought was a mistake. But it might have allowed us a kind of reset on where we were with Iran. I do think the carrier battle group that's being sailed into the region is a good idea, and it's probably a signal to the Iranians. But yes, if you ask me, would I have at least mentioned state sponsors of terrorism? Yes, I would have mentioned it."
On the fateful, Bush administration-supported Gaza withdrawal -- a major Israeli concession in 2005 -- followed by the election of Hamas in 2006 and nonstop terrorism against Israel ever since:
"[Former Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon, by the way, who was no powderpuff when it came to the defense of Israel, believed that it was the right thing to do. I don't think they wanted to govern Gaza any longer. It was in Israel's interest to get out. And they not only gave up Gaza, they gave up four settlements around Gaza at the time...That shows what the Israelis went through to actually evacuate Gaza. And you're right, what they got in return was Hamas, which continued its terrorist activities...And so, the idea that the Israelis didn't want to achieve peace -- and you're going to hear a lot of that this next weeks, that this is Israel's fault, that the Israelis never really tried for peace. The Israelis tried for peace...the Israelis tried everything."
The full interview is available for streaming above, and is accessible here. I'll leave you with a more specific reminder of why Israel's 2005 'land for peace' withdrawal is so relevant to today's propaganda war, refuting this framing on MSNBC:
Israel has issued explicit instructions about where civilians can go to avoid heavily bombarded areas. Hamas reportedly told Gazans not to comply because Hamas needs them as human shields and/or to parade their dead bodies in front of friendly media for propaganda. https://t.co/dsog9YyFor
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 10, 2023
Another piece of context for the “open air prison” talking point — this was just days ago: pic.twitter.com/ST9ABj399t
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 10, 2023
I see the “open air prison” line on Gaza is gaining traction in the discourse. To the extent that the phrase reflects some reality, this too is the fault of Hamas. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in the mid-2000s. ‘Land for peace.’ Their reward for this massive concession was the local populace electing Hamas, burning down Israeli infrastructure and lobbing rockets and attacks into Israel. A dangerous, genocidal terrorist regime is the government of Gaza. Of course its borders — including its borders with the Arab state of Egypt — will be closed and militarized. The “victimhood” story is bogus and the vast majority of hardships faced by Gazans have been directly caused or deeply exacerbated by Hamas. Gazans chose Hamas, lopsidedly support Hamas, celebrate the deaths of innocents, and train their children to hate Jews. So there’s also some evil agency there. Israel is still right to bend over backward to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas, of course, intentionally inflicts civilian casualties as a matter of official policy.
The reason the Hamas barbarism is so clarifying is because 1) it has nothing to do with an 'occupation' (this is Gaza) and 2) nothing to do with a two state solution (Hamas opposes). It's just Nazism for the sake of Nazism. There's no plausible defense of any of it. Period.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) October 10, 2023