Eugene Robinson: 'Nobody Is Going to be Marched Toward Any Ovens'

July 28th, 2015 8:03 AM

Israelis wouldn't have to be marched to ovens.  The ovens would come to them, in the form of an atomic bomb.

On today's Morning Joe, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said that he was "offended" by Mike Huckabee's remark that President Obama's Iran deal would "take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven." Robinson said the comment runs counter to the purpose of Israel, which is that "nobody is going to be marched toward any ovens."

In fairness, Robinson was echoing a statement  made by at least one Israeli politician. But what do NB readers find more offensive: Huckabee's hyperbole, or President Obama's deal putting Iran on an inexorable path to a nuclear weapon? Who is being "cavalier": Huckabee, who takes the Iranian nuclear threat seriously, or Robinson, who blithely suggests that Israel faces no serious threat from Iran?

EUGENE ROBINSON: To throw around that analogy as Richard Haass said in such a cavalier and I think cynical way, frankly. And I hate to use that word about Mike Huckabee, with whom I disagree on a lot of things. I always thought he was an honorable man. But this seems to be a very cynical political stunt to get attention, because, you know, there's not a lot of oxygen down there. It's all being sucked up by Donald Trump.

The other thing is, what he said, totally doesn't get Israel, the whole purpose of Israel is nobody is going to be marched toward any ovens. Right. That's the whole ethos and raison d'etre of the Israeli state and so in a sense it sort of insults that history and a terrible history to just say such a cavalier thing. It's awful.