You don’t usually turn on The View expecting great foreign-policy analysis. Previously, hosts on the show have accused Israel of committing acts of terror and war crimes against Gaza. But a recent guest, Hillary Clinton, proved skillful in delivering a lesson on the region.
“A ceasefire done prematurely benefits those who do not abide by any laws,” Clinton explained.
Sunny Hostin asked Clinton whether she agreed with President Obama’s (outrageous) comments that “we are all complicit” — in other words, that “the Israeli government as well as the U.S. are part of the problem as well.”
Clinton’s response was diplomatic but clear:
The problem pre-dates October 7 and I think that’s what President Obama was talking about. Because let’s remember this is a very long and complicated history.
My husband with the Israeli government at the time in 2000 offered a Palestinian state to the Palestinians at that time run by Arafat, Yasar Arafat, and the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Which, by the way, took out of its charter violence against Israel. So you’ve got to separate the Palestinians who believe that there is some future of peace with Hamas which believes it has to destroy Israel. Those are two different organizations, and they have to be viewed in that way. Arafat turned that down. There would have been a Palestinian state now for 23 years if he had not walked away from it.
There was another attempt when I was Secretary of State, to try to bring the Palestinians and the Israelis together. That didn’t work out. Israel left Gaza in 2005, and forcibly ejected 50,000 Israelis who were living in Gaza. They left all of their infrastructure. They had a big infrastructure of green houses, where they were supplying fruits, vegetables, flowers etc., And the Palestinians deserved to have a productive, successful economy in Gaza. Hamas came in and basically destroyed all of that. And killed a lot of other Palestinians.
So, I think when President Obama says that it requires us to look at the history.