Starting off her interview with newly reelected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, NBC's Andrea Mitchell acknowledged his win – then told him how bad it was: "Prime Minister, congratulations on your victory. But – there's always a but – critics and analysts here and around the world are saying, 'At what cost?' Your hard turn right on the Palestinian issue, what you said about the Arab voters coming out in droves, they say, are costing you, costing you support around the world."
Israel/Palestine
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 19, 2015 | 8:41 AM EDT
On Wednesday, MSNBC host Alex Wagner continued the “Lean Forward” network’s tradition of vilifying Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu by comparing him to a “Scooby Doo” villain who has just pulled off his mask “revealing himself to be who he is actually.”
By Clay Waters | March 19, 2015 | 12:00 AM EDT
The morning after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's surprisingly easy victory against left-wing opposition, the New York Times was still sore. Columnist Thomas Friedman: "It is hard to know what is more depressing: that Netanyahu went for the gutter in the last few days in order to salvage his campaign -- renouncing his own commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians and race-baiting Israeli Jews to get out and vote because, he said, too many Israeli Arabs were going to the polls -- or the fact that this seemed to work."
By Curtis Houck | March 18, 2015 | 11:57 PM EDT
After blasting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News returned yet again Wednesday evening to attack and dimish Netanyahu’s victory by chalking it up to “hard-line rhetoric” and “a hard right turn” that returned him to office “at a price.” CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley ruled that the Likud Party leader’s “hard-line rhetoric” had “help[ed] him win reelection, but at a price” with the on-screen graphic reading “[c]ostly win.”
By Tom Blumer | March 18, 2015 | 11:22 PM EDT
Many media myths won't die because those who should know better — and I believe in many cases do know better, and don't care — perpetuate them.
One can't divine his mindset, but Politico's Michael Crowley, in his coverage of Benjamin Netanyahu's resounding Tuesday electoral victory, did his part to continue the myth that the Israeli Prime Minister's "March 3 speech to Congress (was) arranged by Speaker John Boehner behind the Obama White House’s back." It wasn't, and claiming that it was a million times won't change that.
By Kyle Drennen | March 18, 2015 | 5:04 PM EDT
While in mourning over the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on her Thursday MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell avoided talking to any Israeli officials and instead brought on former Palestinian Authority spokesperson Diana Buttu to denounce the victory of the Jewish leader.
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 18, 2015 | 1:55 PM EDT
Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on Wednesday, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg repeatedly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral strategy which he labeled “the Israeli version of the Southern Strategy.”
By Kyle Drennen | March 18, 2015 | 12:58 PM EDT
Appearing on Wednesday's CBS This Morning, pollster Frank Luntz reacted to the Tuesday re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by scolding efforts by former Obama campaign aides to defeat the foreign leader: "I think the Obama administration today has got to be very disappointed because they had their people over there trying to make a difference and Netanyahu pointed that out. And Israeli's don't want other people, including Americans, telling them how to vote."
By Scott Whitlock | March 18, 2015 | 12:41 PM EDT
MSNBC hosts and guests reacted with fury over Benjamin Netanyahu's victory on Tuesday night, describing it as "polarizing," a modern "southern strategy" and an appeal to "racism." Appearing on NewsNation, Wednesday, with Tamron Hall, London Professor Fawaz Gerges decried the Israeli Prime Minister's "use of fear, the use of xenophobia and racism against a significant segment of Israeli citizens, warning Jewish voters that Arabs were flooding the polls."
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 18, 2015 | 9:45 AM EDT
On Wednesday, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today repeatedly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his resounding victory on Tuesday night with ABC’s Alex Marquardt insisting that “this is not a triumph for U.S.-Israeli relations.” He made sure to note that “there’s a lot of disappointment at the White House this morning, realizing they have to try to work with Netanyahu for the next two years, a man who has been such a thorn in their sides.”
By Mark Finkelstein | March 18, 2015 | 8:27 AM EDT
Things got chippy on Morning Joe today after Amy Holmes of The Blaze pointed out that President Obama has personalized and publicized his conflict with Benjamin Netanyahu in a way he hasn't done even with despots like Kim Jong Un or the Castro brothers.
When Holmes added that "only Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be the focal point of this president's ire," former Obama spokesman Gibbs called Holmes' statement "the silliest thing I've probably heard in a long time."
CBS and NBC Bash Netanyahu on Election Night; ‘Could Destroy’ Chances for Peace with Obama, Palestinians
By Curtis Houck | March 17, 2015 | 10:54 PM EDT In their coverage of the election in Israel, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News took aim at incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night by, among other things, framing him as the candidate with a campaign pledge that “could destroy any chance” of forging peace with the Obama administration and the Palestinians, respectively. NBC anchor Lester Holt freted “[t]he dramatic finish to a fight for power” has ended with “the last-minute threat that could destroy any chance of a peace plan.”