Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday morning for his actions during his re-election campaign, sparking a debate with the hosts of “Fox & Friends” about Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. and his comments on potential for a Palestinian state.
“If I were President Obama, I would have sent Bibi Netanyahu a congratulatory postcard by snail mail on a form written, ‘Congratulations on your recent election,'” Rivera said on “Fox and Friends,” as highlighted by Mediaite. “It is the appropriate thing to do to someone who has absolutely insulted the American constitutional system by coming here uninvited.”
As the hosts of “Fox & Friends” began to protest the nature of Netanyahu’s invitation, Geraldo said, “We can debate who and how that invitation was engineered, but it caused a division in the U.S.-Israeli relationship that has never existed before.”
After debating House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) invitation to Netanyahu, Geraldo then moved on to his objections to comments the Prime Minister made during his re-election campaign.
“And then for Bibi Netanyahu to run the campaign in a way that I believe was, to its core — made a racist appeal to Israeli hard-right voters to come out because these droves of these Palestinians are going to vote,” Geraldo continued, referencing Netanyahu’s election day comments warning that “Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves.”
Co-host Steve Doocy jumped in to ask, “We’re judging prime ministers by how they run campaigns?”
“Fox & Friends” then moved on to debate Netanyahu’s Thursday comments walking back statements he made before the election ruling out a two-state solution.
The show played a clip of Netanyahu telling Fox’s Megyn Kelly that in order for there to be a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis, Palestinians must “go back on their unity pact with the terrorists Hamas.”
“That’s actually true because you can’t deal with Hamas anyway, we already know that,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said.
Rivera then pointed out that Netanyahu had previously said that he could never support an independent Palestinian state.
“I sat in this very seat over the years and I looked at that camera, and I said that Bibi Netanyahu told me to my face that there will never be an independent Palestine on his watch,” he said. “Bibi Netanyahu revealed his true self in this election. Not only in his contempt for Arab-Israeli voters but also with his unequivocal statement that there will never be a two-state solution as long as he is Prime Minister.”
Watch the clip via YouTube:
