As NewsBusters has documented since the start of the Israel/Hamas war, CBS News reporters have been strong supporters of Hamas and have decried Israel’s fight for their right to exist. Well, during Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, foreign correspondent Debora Patta sat down with a Hamas commander/recruiter and a pro-Palestinian Israeli to discuss the path to ending the conflict. Their solution? The Jewish state of Israel has to give up its land.
After commiserating with the Hamas commander about how he organizes attacks on Israeli Defense Forces and what they expected to happen in reaction to October 7, she commiserated with “veteran Israeli hostage negotiator” Gershom Baskin, who seemed to side with the terrorists’ cause, which Patta appreciated:
PATTA: He knows Hamas well.
BASKIN: The more that Israel hits Hamas the stronger Hamas will grow.
PATTA: As for Netanyahu's repeatedly stated aim of eliminating Hamas --
BASKIN: The only way you defeat an idea and an ideology is by providing a better idea and a better ideology.
“Baskin points out that Netanyahu's biggest crime is convincing Israelis that occupying another people for decades and still have peace,” Patta touted, using Hamas’s propaganda language.
Patta’s report culminated in Baskin and the Hamas commander agreeing that Israel needed to give up their claims to the land of Israel:
PATTA: So, where does this all end? All this killing, all this suffering?
RECRUITER (via translator): The killing and the suffering ends when the Israelis walk out of our land. But if they decide to stay, we shall continue to fight. And if I die, somebody else will take my place.
PATTA: Asked the same question, how it all ends, Baskin said when young Palestinians no longer believe their only option is to die for Palestine.
BASKIN: That will happen when Palestine becomes real for them. It's about time that the United States, for example, recognizes the state of Palestine.
In coming back to the live shot, Patta boasted that Hamas’s support in the West Bank “has gone up,” but added that their support in Gaza has waned, citing some people being more outspoken against them. She didn’t seem to correlate that new-found ability to speak out with what she and Baskin claimed was impossible: the IDF breaking Hamas’s back.
Ironically, as Patta spoke, the on-screen headline underneath her read “recruited by Hamas” (pictured above).
After Patta was off the screen, CBS Mornings co-anchor Tony Dokoupil took issue with their notion that Israelis had to give up their birthright. He agreed with the idealist notion of a two-state solution, but pointed out that the extremist rhetoric was what kept many Israelis from coming to the negotiating table:
[W]hat’s notable is, you hear that commander from Hamas talk about ‘my land’ and ‘there will not be peace until Israel leaves my land.’ He's not talking about two states; he’s talking about all of Israel. That's what the hard right in Israel hears when they say a two-state solution is impossible because look what we're dealing with.
“And you don't hear civilians talk in Gaza about getting rid of Hamas much on camera because Hamas has a long, documented history of severe torture and violence against all of their political enemies. In fact, they threw other Palestinians out in 2007 when they took power,” he added.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
February 14, 2024
7:32:08 p.m. Eastern(…)
DEBORA PATTA: Gershom Baskin is a veteran Israeli hostage negotiator. He knows Hamas well.
GERSHOM BASKIN: The more that Israel hits Hamas the stronger Hamas will grow.
PATTA: As for Netanyahu's repeatedly stated aim of eliminating Hamas --
BASKIN: The only way you defeat an idea and an ideology is by providing a better idea and a better ideology.
PATTA: Baskin points out that Netanyahu's biggest crime is convincing Israelis that occupying another people for decades and still have peace.
BASKIN: You can't have it all. We've got to share this place.
PATTA: So, where does this all end? All this killing, all this suffering?
HAMAS RECRUITER (via translator): The killing and the suffering ends when the Israelis walk out of our land. But if they decide to stay, we shall continue to fight. And if I die, somebody else will take my place.
PATTA: Asked the same question, how it all ends, Baskin said when young Palestinians no longer believe their only option is to die for Palestine.
BASKIN: That will happen when Palestine becomes real for them. It's about time that the United States, for example, recognizes the state of Palestine. They deserve to live in freedom, too.
[Cuts back to live]
PATTA: While support for Hamas in the West Bank has gone up, in Gaza it has not risen significantly. In fact, we've been hearing Gazans criticize Hamas, something they would not have dared to do under their rule before October 7th. Tony.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Yeah. Hamas has a history of torturing, even killing political dissidents, any of its political rivals. Debora Patta for us in Israel. Debora, thank you so much.
You know, Gershom Baskin is absolutely correct that a two-state solution is the only path to peace. Everyone knows that. It's patently obvious. But what’s notable is, you hear that commander from Hamas talk about “my land” and “there will not be peace until Israel leaves my land.” He's not talking about two states; he’s talking about all of Israel. That's what the hard right in Israel hears when they say a two-state solution is impossible because look what we're dealing with.
GAYLE KING: Exactly.
DOKOUPIL: And you don't hear civilians talk in Gaza about getting rid of Hamas much on camera because Hamas has a long, documented history of severe torture and violence against all of their political enemies. In fact, they threw other Palestinians out in 2007 when they took power.
KING: Exactly.
DOKOUPIL: So, there are so many innocent people there. And they are at the hands not only of an Israeli military that's encroaching but at the hand of Hamas that is fighting from within their midst.
KING: It’s all totally out of their control. And people are still dying. That's what's so upsetting.
DOKOUPIL: Really. Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
KING: Compromise not to be seen any time soon.
