“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough has been intensifying the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu recently, and on Friday the MSNBC forecasted that if the Israeli prime minister doesn’t agree to a two-state solution, the region will be destined to a war that could last “60, 70, 80 years” or more.
Netanyahu has never fully endorsed a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, though he suggested as recently as February that he’s open to a Palestine with “no military or security power.” On Friday, Scarborough suggested that Netanyahu and “extremists” have completely rejected that idea.
“Benjamin Netanyahu and these extremists now assert ownership of all the land,” Scarborough said, “the West Bank, Gaza everything – the Palestinians need to leave. Let me tell you something: the Trump Administration thought that they could achieve Middle East peace by excluding the Palestinians – I thought it was a ridiculous idea at the time.”
Scarborough said he was pleased to see some Middle East countries sign peace agreements with Israel – but that we’ve already seen the outcome when “you try to pretend like [Palestinians] don’t exist.”
“And this is the fantasy world that Benjamin Netanyahu is living in,” Scarborough said. “And if we’re going to guarantee their existence … we need a partner that is going to act responsibly and understand there has to be a two-state solution. And now they’ve moved away from [that].”
That’s where Scarborough outlined his grim vision for the future of the conflict if a Palestinian state remains off the table:
“The United States can’t continue as Israel’s partner if there’s not going to be a two-state solution, because we’re going to see war for another what, 60, 70, 80 years? And we’re going to be in the middle of it.”
Watch the entirety of Scarborough’s rant in the video above.
